PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Every time the 17th-ranked University of Pikeville women's basketball team needed an answer, Kelah Eldridge was there. The senior hit five 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 21 points as the Bears topped Bluefield (Va.) 74-64 on Friday in the Walters Auto Classic.
Devin Conley joined her in double figures with 14 points off the bench, while Aundrea Matchen led the Bears on the glass with five rebounds despite being outrebounded 45-33 by the Rams.
Bluefield (3-2) got 14 points from Courtney Kendrick and 10 from Autumn Hash as the only two players in double figures.
Neither team shot well from the field with UPIKE (3-1) holding a slight 40 to 38 percent advantage. Eldridge stood out though, connecting on 5-of-9 3-point attempts.
When UPIKE was trailing 11-8 in the first quarter, Eldridge was there with the long-range equalizer. It helped calm down Bluefield, which had led by as many as six points early on, as it went in to halftime trailing the Bears by one at 32-31.
Bluefield never held the lead again in the second half, but it was still just a one-point game at 46-45 late in the third quarter.
Enter Eldridge, who once again nailed a three when UPIKE needed a spark, to push the lead to four and it only swelled from there. The Bears went on an 18-3 run over the next six minutes to lead by 16 and kept in front by nine points or more the rest of the way.
Bluefield hung around and even cut into the deficit some with a 9-2 spurt with 2:12 to play before Devin Conley put the Bears' final stamp on the win with a 3-point play in the final seconds.
UP NEXT
The Bears play Ohio Christian in their final game of the Walters Auto Classic at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.
-UPIKE-
