COMING UP:  at No. 22 Corban, Friday, 5:30 p.m.; at Bushnell, Saturday, 3 p.m.

COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION: All OIT women's basketball games for the remainder of the season will be carried live on 104.3-FM & 960-AM in the Klamath Basin and streamed online at MyBasin.com, with Mike Safford on the call – beginning 30-minutes prior to the scheduled tip off. All Cascade Conference games, home and away, will have Live Video via the Urban Edge Network, while Live Stats will be available via OIT's SIDEARM Sports Portal.  
 
BLACK OUT FOR HUNGER SET FOR NEXT TUESDAY: Next Tuesday, Tech hosts Southern Oregon in the 13th-annual Black Out for Hunger game, benefiting the Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank. The first 1,000 fans who make any cash or non-perishable food item donation will receive a Black Out t-shirt. Last year, the event raised 586 pounds of food for the Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – CORBAN: First-place in the CCC is on the line Friday in Salem, as Corban hosts the Lady Owls. The upstart Warriors (18-4, 11-3 CCC) have shocked opponents – averaging a league-best 82 points a game, making 10 3-pointers and attempting 29 3's a night – with the squad riding a 5-game win streak as the program is having their best season in seven years. Transfers Jersey Huerta (19.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.2 apg) and Emilia Bishop (11.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 26 blocks) lead the Corban attack, with Jenna Albrecht (13.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg), the younger sister of former Tech men's star Garret Albrecht, connecting on 36 3-point attempts this season. Returning guards, Tayla Yost (9.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Tori Younker (9.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg), provide key depth for the attack. Corban won the first meeting in Klamath, 80-64, but the Lady Owls take a 4-game win streak inside the Jeffers Center into the match-up.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – BUSHNELL: The trip closes Saturday across the street from the University of Oregon, as Bushnell welcomes Tech. The Beacons (6-16, 4-10) are battling with Northwest for the final CCC playoff spot, with the team snapping a 5-game losing streak with a win Saturday at Evergreen. Bushnell has struggled offensively, converting just 35% of field goal attempts and averaging 61 points a game – with a defense allowing just 67 points a game keeping the squad in most games. Ayden Krupke (16.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg) leads the team in scoring and 3-point attempts (152), with starters Maddie Gerhart (9.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Kenzi Peterson (8.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Sabrina Flowers (6.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg) key contributors. Tech topped the Beacons in December, 71-45 – the eighth-straight win over their Valley rival.
 
METRICS / ANOTHER TOP-25 FOE: The Lady Owls surged five spots to No. 4 in the Western ARC rating – the key NAIA metric to determine seeding for the NAIA Championships – trailing only Dakota State, LC State and Eastern Oregon (ahead of No. 5 Carroll, No. 7 Southern Oregon, No. 9 Corban and No. 10 C of I). Tech is 4-7 in Quad 1 games, with the team No. 13 in NAIA strength of schedule and No. 26 in RPI. Friday's game vs. Corban marks the 12th game in 2025-26 against a Top-25 opponent.
 
PLAYOFF SPOT CLINCHED: With Friday's win over LCSC, the Lady Owls clinched their 14th-straight playoff appearance and the 29th in program history. OIT is searching for their third-straight NAIA Tournament appearance and ninth overall trip to Nationals.
 
ROAD STREAK ON THE LINE: Tech takes a perfect 6-0 CCC road record into the weekend games and an overall 7-game road win streak. Last season, the Lady Owls set a school mark by winning their first eight CCC road tilts, with the 2015-16 team winning their first seven CCC road games.
 
WIN STREAK AT SIX: OIT pushed their win streak to six with the victories over LC State and Walla Walla – a first-ever season sweep of LCSC and remaining unbeaten all-time vs. WWU. It is the seventh-straight full season (not including the 2021 COVID spring season) that the Lady Owls have rattled off 6-or-more straight wins.
 
OFFENSE ROLLING: The Lady Owls set a school-record with eight players in double-figures in the win Saturday – a feat Tech's men's team has only matched once (in 1991) – with the 104 points marking the 18th time the program has scored 100-or-more points in a game. OIT has scored 80-or-more points in 5-straight games for the first time ever, with the team now 13-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points. The team made 54% of their shots vs. WWU, improving to 8-0 this season when making at least 50% of shots (extending a win streak to 28-in-a-row in such games).
 
FEWEST TURNOVERS IN 13 YEARS: Tech was efficient in the 58-point win over Walla Walla, committing just five turnovers. The Owls last had five turnovers in a game in a 2012 win at Menlo, while the school record is three turnovers in a 2011 victory at Walla Walla.
 
SCHMERBACH LEADS THE WAY: The dominant season for Tatum Schmerbach continues, as the junior led the Lady Owls attack in both weekend wins. Schmerbach had 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists vs. LC, while logging her eighth double-double of the year against Walla Walla (19 points, 11 rebounds) – making 18-of-28 field goal attempts. She is the lone CCC player ranking among the league's Top-5 in scoring (18.2), rebounding (7.6) and assists (5.0). Schmerbach has recorded 28-straight games with 10-or-more points – the longest stretch of double-digit scoring games since the program returned in 2002, trailing only the marks of Shelly Isaac (41 from 1985-87) and Carmen Arroquero (36 from 1983-85).
 
SPRAGUE KEY IN HOME WINS: Senior Olivia Sprague was instrumental on both ends of the floor in the two wins – averaging 16 points, five rebounds and six assists on the offensive end, while recording a season-high six steals in Saturday's win, the sixth time Sprague has recorded 6-or-more steals in a game. With her efforts, Sprague surpassed the 1,600-point mark for her career and is nearing the 600-rebound (needing 16) and 400-assist (needing 16) milestones.
 
UPPERCLASSMEN HAVE BIG WEEKEND: Senior Chelsea Ching had the biggest weekend of her OIT career, following up an 8-point performance vs. LC State with a career-high 15 points vs. Walla Walla. Ching made 7-of-9 3-pointers for the weekend, including 5-of-7 in the win over WWU. Junior Kendall Fealey scored a career-high 13 points against LC and 12 more vs. WWU, combining for nine assists – while making 12-of-20 field goal attempts. Jozie Ramos posted her sixth double-digit rebound game of the year vs. LC (10 rebounds), while adding 12 points and a career-high six assists vs. WWU.
 
AROUND THE CCC: Four teams sit atop the league standings with 11-3 records – Southern Oregon, OIT, Corban and Eastern Oregon, with SOU, Tech and Corban each posting 2-0 marks last week, moving a game ahead of LC State and College of Idaho. This week, along with OIT and SOU heading to Corban and Bushnell, LC hosts Walla Walla before both teams welcome Warner Pacific, while C of I and EOU are at home facing Evergreen and Northwest.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS: As a team, OIT leads the CCC (and ranks No. 8 in the NAIA) in field goal percentage (.466), ranking No. 2 in rebound margin (+7.6) and assists per game (17.6), while sitting at No. 3 in scoring average (75.2) and free throw percentage (.747). Individually, Tatum Schmerbach tops the CCC in assists per game (5.0), ranking No. 2 in scoring average (18.2), No. 4 in rebounds per game (7.6), No. 7 in field goal percentage (.515) and No. 10 in free throw percentage (.765), with Olivia Sprague No. 4 in assists per game (3.9) and free throw percentage (.857), No. 8 in rebounds per game (6.3) and steals per game (1.9), ranking No. 9 in blocks per game (0.9). Avery Andrews is no. 3 in field goal percentage (.548); Kendall Fealey is No. 5 in field goal percentage (.540) and No. 9 in both steals per game (1.6) and blocks per game (0.9); with Jozie Ramos No. 6 in rebounds per game (6.9) and No. 7 in blocks per game (1.0).
 
RECORD BOOK: Seven Lady Owls are currently ranked among the Top-50 in the OIT record book, led by Olivia Sprague, who is No. 2 in points scored (1,610), field goals made (571), field goal attempts (1,381) and steals (216), No. 3 in free throws made (271), No. 4 in 3-pointers made (195) and 3-point attempts (538), No. 5 in assists (384), No. 6 in free throw attempts (330), No. 13 in rebounds (584), No. 14 in blocked shots (57), ranking No. 24 in games played (110). Jozie Ramos is No. 5 in blocked shots (95), No. 7 in free throw attempts (313), No. 10 in free throws made (232), No. 16 in points scored (931) and field goals made (343), No. 19 in rebounds (477), No. 27 in field goal attempts (683), No. 37 in games played (85), No. 48 in assists (109) and No. 49 in steals (63); Gabbie Gascon is No. 9 in free throws made (233), No. 10 in steals (146), No. 12 in assists (274), No. 16 in free throw attempts (280), No. 17 in 3-pointers made (83), No. 19 in 3-point attempts (260), No. 23 in points scored (806), No. 37 in field goal attempts (601), No. 39 in field goals made (245), No. 41 in rebounds (315) and No. 45 in games played (79); Tatum Schmerbach is No. 8 in field goal attempts (453) No. 9 in assists (330), No. 10 in points scored (1,068) and rebounds (592), No. 11 in field goal attempts (971), No. 17 in blocked shots (45), No. 32 in 3-point attempts (153), No. 33 in 3-pointers made (40), No. 36 in free throws made (122), No. 37 in steals (73) and games played (85), ranking No. 39 in free throw attempts (172); Kendall Fealey is No. 18 in steals (119), No. 20 in blocked shots (40) and No. 37 in games played (85); Chelsea Ching is No. 37 in games played (85), No. 39 in 3-pointers made (27) and No. 44 in 3-point attempts (75); with Brooke Anderson No. 38 in 3-point attempts (90) and No. 43 in 3-pointers made (25).
 
TOPS AT THE GATE: The big K-12 Field Trip Day crowd last Friday (1,590) pushed the Lady Owls NAIA leading attendance average total to 972 fans per game. OIT ranks ahead of Carroll (841), Midland (750), LC State (616) and Dakota Wesleyan (547) among NAIA teams.  
 
SCORING 90, ALLOWING UNDER 50 EQUAL WINS: OIT has scored 90-or-more points in a game 46 times, posting a 43-3 record in the high-scoring contests. The Lady Owls are riding a 104-game win streak when allowing fewer than 50 points in a game, recording a 178-8 record in such games (last loss occurred in 2012, a 42-40 setback at Eastern Oregon).
 
UP NEXT: The Lady Owls close out their regular-season home schedule next week, hosting Southern Oregon on Black Out for Hunger Night (Feb. 10) and Warner Pacific for Senior Night (Feb. 13), as OIT honors the three senior student-athletes on the squad.