Baird, Schmerbach, DiGuilio, Kloppenburg-Pruitt earn top honors for SOU women

A day after they finished running the table through the conference tournament, the Southern Oregon Raiders women’s basketball team was honored in all-Cascade Collegiate Conference voting with the CCC Player of the Year in Morgan Baird, the co-Defensive Player of the Year in Emma Schmerbach, the Sixth Woman of the Year in Eliza DiGiulio and the Coach of the Year in Carlotta Kloppenburg-Pruitt.

Baird and Schmerbach were joined on the 15-person All-CCC team by Bridgette McIntyre and Meghan McIntyre.

On Tuesday, the SOU men’s basketball program also received high recognition as Bryce Dyer and Elijah Jackson, the two players at the center of the Raiders’ second-half resurgence, were named to the All-Cascade Conference men’s basketball team.

Dyer and Jackson became first-time honorees and were among 15 players recognized after leading the Raiders to wins in 14 of their final 18 CCC games. At 20-10 overall, they’ll learn Thursday evening if their efforts were enough to warrant a spot in the 64-team NAIA National Tournament field.

Oregon Tech sophomore Tatum Schmerbach, also of Medford and younger sister of Emma Schmerbach, was also an all-CCC honoree after averaging 12.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists for the Owls.

Baird became the eighth Player of the Year in team history, and SOU’s first in eight seasons. The Coquille product, a senior forward who transferred prior to this season from Rocky Mountain (Mont.), was second in points (16.1) and first in field-goal percentage (58.8) on the conference leaderboard during CCC play, adding 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Her addition is a major reason the Raiders have gone from No. 72 among NAIA teams in offensive efficiency a season ago to No. 4 this year.

Schmerbach, the senior wing from Medford, shared her long-overdue defensive honor with Jayln Sackrider of Evergreen (Wash.), the CCC’s leader in blocked shots. Schmerbach’s numbers impress — she’s the only player in the conference to rank among the top-20 in points (11.7), rebounds (6.0), steals (1.7), blocks (0.7) and field-goal percentage (48.0) — but don’t do justice to the influence that has brought the Raiders to No. 6 nationally in defensive rating. It was felt again in the championship game Tuesday, when she held LC State’s top scorer, all-star Ellie Sander, to 3-of-10 shooting while recording three blocks and two steals.

DiGiulio, a junior forward from Portland, received the inaugural Sixth Woman of the Year award by averaging 8.8 points on 49% shooting and 2.7 rebounds in just over 18 minutes per game. During conference play, she scored in double figures 11 times off the bench.

Kloppenburg-Pruitt was named Coach of the Year for the third time in four seasons guiding SOU. Her Raiders, ranked No. 2 in the final Top 25 poll, will be the first team in CCC history to enter the NAIA National Tournament with an unscathed record, sitting at 31-0 after capturing regular season and tournament titles for the second year in a row. She now owns an overall record of 112-19 and the top winning percentage (.855) of any active NAIA coach with 100-plus victories.

The McIntyre sisters, sharing the floor as Raiders for the first time this season, have given SOU one of the most potent backcourts in the country. Meghan McIntyre, a senior point guard, earned All-CCC plaudits for the second consecutive season by ranking 23rd in points (10.8), third in assists (4.1) and fifth in steals (2.4) per game. Bridgette McIntyre, a junior shooting guard, tops the circuit in 3-point makes (80) and 3-point percentage (45.2). She averages 10.1 points and has made at least four 3-points in nine different games.

The Raiders will host the NAIA Tournament’s first and second rounds March 14-15. They’ll learn their draw when the bracket is released at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Dyer, a sophomore forward from Medford, has averages of 11.0 points on 53% shooting, 9.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 steals. He’s posted 11 double-doubles, including five over the last three weeks. His rebounding average is second on the conference leaderboard, and his total of 290 is the eighth-highest in SOU single-season history.

Jackson, a junior guard from Fallon, Nev., ranks ninth in the CCC in both points (15.0) and assists (3.0) per game – making him the only player in the circuit who is among the top-10 in both categories. His field-goal clip of 49% includes a 35% clip from 3-point range, where he posts the second-most makes (2.0) per game in the conference. He turned dominant down the stretch, scoring 20-plus points in five of SOU’s last seven games and averaging 22.1 on 61% from the field and 49% downtown during the period.

A season ago, Dyer and Jackson both came off the bench and combined to average just over nine points.

Their star turns pushed the Raiders to the semifinal round of the CCC Tournament, where they fell 70-65 at top-ranked College of Idaho. Of their 10 losses this season, nine were decided by five or fewer points and four were against top-five opponents.

Lewis-Clark State forward Alton Hamilton was named the Player of the Year.