PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Aundrea Matchen helped the 17th-ranked University of Pikeville women's basketball team overcome a slow start with a game-high 17 points to beat Ohio Christian 80-58 on Saturday in the East Ky. Expo Center,

The Trailblazers (3-1) scored the first eight points of the game and continued to lead throughout the first quarter until Devin Conley's 3-point play with 1:28 left in the first quarter put the Bears in front for good at 10-8. Ohio Christian trailed by just three late in the second quarter, but UPIKE outscored it 14-3 over the final three minutes to lead by 14 at halftime.

UPIKE (4-1) shot just 40 percent from the field, but did hit seven 3-pointers and turned 18 OCU turnovers into 17 points to eventually turn the game into a rout. Defense way key as the Trailblazers struggled to figure out the Bears' press and shot just 33.3 percent from the field.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

The Bears weren't happy to see themselves go down 8-0 to start the game as shot simply wouldn't fall, so for a four-minute span in the first quarter they outscored OCU 14-0 to take a 14-8 lead. The Trailblazers hung around just three down in the middle of the second quarter, but once again UPIKE was there with a game-changing 14-3 spurt.

After taking a 40-26 lead into halftime, the Bears came out of the break on fire, scoring 18 of the first 21 points to take a 29-point lead with 5:44 left in the third quarter. Matchen, Brianna Burbridge, Taylor McGlade and Conley all hit threes during the run.

The rest of the action could be categorized as cruise control for UPIKE as it tallied its largest lead of 30 on a McGlade layup with 6:25 to play and kept its lead in the 20's the rest of the way.

BEAR FACTS

Ohio Christian's last lead came with 1:28 to play in the first quarter at 8-7.

UPIKE has a 17-6 lead in assists, led by Burbridge and McGlade with three dimes each.

The Bears controlled the glass 48-39 with seven rebounds each from Burbridge and Matchen.

Kandice Porter had the most complete stat line of the day, tallying six points, five rebounds, three blocks, two assists and a steal.

UPIKE was an efficient 17-of-21 from three free-throw line, good for 81 percent.

UP NEXT

UPIKE takes to the road at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday to face Rio Grande in Rio Grande, Ohio.

-UPIKE-