PORTSMOUTH, Ohio -- Ali Zieverink had an answer for every run, finishing with 39 points to help No. 20 Shawnee State to a 75-65 win over No. 20 University of Pikeville on a snowy Saturday afternoon at Waller Gymnasium.
UPIKE (22-7, 7-6 MSC) was held scoreless for the first four minutes and 20 seconds of the game before Jamie Castle knocked down a free throw to make it 8-1. Shawnee State then went on a 9-0 run to eventually take a 17-1 lead.
Aundrea Matchen made Pikeville's first field goal at the 13:05 mark to make it 17-3 and Kelah Eldridge followed up with a bucket on the next trip. SSU buried a three to make it 20-5 before Matchen went on a 4-0 run to make it an 11-point game at the first media timeout.
Matchen and Khalilah Quigley paced UPIKE with 16 points each, while Eldridge joined them in double figures with 10. Pikeville shot just 38.8 percent from the field and made just 4 of 21 3-pointers while being outrebounded 41-40.
Shavon Robinson was the only other play to score in double figures for SSU with 12 points. Quigley ended up with a double-double in the losing effort by adding 10 boards.
After falling behind by 17 points, UPIKE's mission was to get a handle on the game and stop the bleeding. It did so, keeping the deficit between 12 and 15 points over the next six minutes before a long jumper from Matchen finally made it a 10-point game at 26-16.
Shawnee State (19-8, 6-5 MSC) fought back, going back up by 16 at 36-20 with just over two minutes on the clock after a three from Ashley McMurtrey. UPIKE needed an answer and got it in the form of back-to-back threes by Quigley and Swatzel to get it back to a 10-point game.
The Bears from Portsmouth ended up taking a 12-point lead into halftime at 40-28 after a layup in the final seconds by Robinson.
The second half started better for UPIKE, scoring six of the first eight points to get the deficit back to single digits at 42-34 for the first time since it was 10-1 less than five minutes into the first half. Again, UPIKE struggled to cut into the lead much more than that, facing a 12-point deficit with less than eight minutes to play.
After Robinson added a fast-break layup and two shots from the line, it was a 60-46 Shawnee State lead. Trailing 60-49 with 4:45 to play, Matchen had a bonus free-throw chance but couldn't connect, luckily Jamie Castle made up for it with a layup after an offensive foul to cut the SSU lead to nine.
With less than three minutes to play, Eldridge started going to work for UPIKE. She hit a three and followed up with a tough jumper to make it 66-56. But it seemed like Zieverink wasn't going to let up, hitting a deep jumper to give her 39 points.
Eldridge wasn't fazed, coming right back with another three to make it 68-59, but time was running out. The dagger came from Tabby McKinney with a corner three to go back up by 12 and Pikeville never recovered over the final minute.
UPIKE's regular-season finale is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Monday at Georgetown (Ky.).
