PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Kelah Eldridge's long-range shooting and Kandice Porter swatting everything in the paint sparked the 17th-ranked University of Pikeville women's basketball team to a 96-67 season-opening win over visiting Milligan on Tuesday at the East Ky. Expo Center.

Eldridge tied her career high with 21 points while knocking down five triples and Porter matched a career best with six blocks to go along with six points and four rebounds. The Bears dominated the backboards 57-38 with the help of eight board from Emily Baker.

The Buffaloes - who qualified for last season's NAIA Div. II National Championship - hung around early, going ahead by as many as five points at 9-4. They continued to lead by a point with a minute left in the first quarter until Jamie Castle buried a deep jumper at the buzzer to make it 20-19.

UPIKE opened the second quarter on a 10-2 run, going up by nine points on Ivvy Gulley's fast break layup. Gulley was a sparkplug off the bench, burying a 3-pointer on the previous possession and turning up the heat defensively on the Bears' man-to-man.

Milligan trailed by 10 at halftime after connecting on three free throws when Hayley Wyrick was fouled on a near half-court 3-point attempt near the buzzer. But the final eight minutes of the third quarter spelled trouble for the Buffaloes.

It was 55-43 UPIKE with 7:45 to play before the Bears rattled off a 24-4 run to blow the game open. The run continued with the first two points of the fourth quarter on a long jumper from Devin Conley, giving UPIKE its largest lead of 34 points.

The Buffaloes whittled things down to 25 midway through the third quarter, but couldn't claw any closer as UPIKE finishes things off with a trio of layups and pair of free throws from Adison Corder.

Wyrick paced Milligan with a game-high 23 points, while Sarah Robinson chipped in with 18 points and eight rebounds.

UPIKE outshot Milligan 50 to 31 percent from the field and 52.2 to 23.8 percent from behind the arc. Besides Eldridge's five threes, Rachel Lee came off the bench to hit 3 of 4, including back-to-back triples early in the third quarter to make it an 18-point game.   

BEAR FACTS

UPIKE is now 5-1 against Milligan since 2003, winning the last two meetings…Porter is 11 points shy of becoming the 21st member of the 1,000-Point Club at UPIKE…Porter is also 52 blocks shy of reaching 200 blocks after recording six on Tuesday for the first time since her sophomore season in 2014 against Shawnee State…The Bears have won their last three season openers…Eldridge is right behind Porter in the race to reach 1,000 points, now needing 68 points to reach the milestone.   

UP NEXT

The Bears host Ohio-Lancaster at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday in the East Ky. Expo Center.

-UPIKE-