Photo by Kayla Young
SOU defeated Holy Names Friday night in the McNeal Pavilion.

It was a tough opening game for the Raiders in the Coming Attraction Theatre’s Basketball Classic. SOU was able to rally back from a halftime deficit to score a victory over Holy Names.

SOU stayed unbeaten on the season as they downed the Hawks 72-64, Friday night in McNeal Pavilion. Menlo kicked off the classic against Oregon Tech with the Menlo Oaks scoring a double overtime victory.

The Raiders were led behind a double-double by junior Jacki Speer. Speer had 28 points and 12 rebounds and hit 16-of-18 free-throws in the win.

Southern started the game sloppy committing 16 first half turnovers to Holy Name’s three. But it would be the free-throws that was the difference in the game with SOU attempting 42 to the Hawks 26.

“We were trying to change our defensive mentality,” said head coach Lynn Kennedy. “I was trying to find those five players at each moment to get defensive stops.”

Kennedy’s defense held the Hawks to just above 33 percent shooting and a dismal 19 percent from beyond the three point line.

SOU found themselves down 34-26 going into halftime a, position they are not usually in. The problems didn’t stop in the first half, as the Raiders couldn’t take care of the ball early in the second half.

“They were tough to match up with,” said Kennedy. “They were good going to the basket and really quick and athletic.”

The Raiders cut the lead down to six with 10 minutes remaining in the game behind solid defensive stops giving them the chance to win. Whitney Scott got the offense rolling dishing one of her team high six assists to Speer for a jumper bringing the score to 51-43.

Junior Emily Brookins then ignited the Raiders off the bench with two of her seven rebounds and got the team out and running. Brookins scored back to back buckets with more than seven minutes remaining, cutting the deficit to just a point.

Brookins then turned her eye on the defense as she came up with a big steal that lead to Speer going to the free-throw line, and sinking both to take a 54-53 Raider lead.

On the next offensive play, Brookins found Speer once again in the paint for two and the Raiders would never look back.

The lead was increased behind 21-of-30 second half free-throws by the Raiders.

Brookins finished the game with nine points and seven rebounds while Rhiannon Dickison had 12 points and six rebounds.

“Offensively we weren’t getting it done in the first half,” said Kennedy. “We had fewer turnovers in the second half giving us the win.”