PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Behind 25 points from Devin Conley, the 17th-ranked University of Pikeville women's basketball team held off Georgetown 80-74 on Monday night in the East Ky. Expo Center.
There were 16 lead changes in the game, including the Bears going up by nine with 6:19 to play, but Georgetown went on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to tie things up. It stayed interesting the rest of the way before Conley and Elisabeth Latham combined to hit four straight free throws in the final 16 seconds to seal it.
Pikeville (7-3, 1-1 MSC) forced Georgetown (3-5, 0-2 MSC) into 22 turnovers while committing just 10 of its own with many of the Tigers' coming in the crucial last five minutes. That resulted in the Bears posting a 29-5 gap in points off turnovers, which was crucial as Georgetown outrebounded them 47-30.
Taylor McGlade joined Conley in double figures with 10 points and Rachel Lee finished with a solid six points and team-high five rebounds.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
After jumping out to a 5-0 lead, UPIKE quickly learned this wouldn't be a rout either way as the Tigers outscored it 10-5 over the next seven minutes to build a five-point lead of their own at 15-10. While the lead only changed hands once in the first quarter, the second was a back-and-forth battle with the lead changing five times.
A three from Adison Corder gave UPIKE a 19-15 lead early in the frame, but Georgetown reeled off a 9-0 run to lead by five before three minutes had passed. Then a 7-2 run by the Bears followed and we were back to a tie game -- you get the picture of how this one went.
Georgetown took a one-point lead into halftime at 40-39 after a last-second three from Shelby Beam, but when Brianna Burbridge got a steal and layup midway through the third quarter to give UPIKE a 48-47 lead, it finally stayed on top for the next 10 minutes.
Even though the Bears led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, Georgetown still had the legs to go on one last run. This time it was a 10-0 spurt over just less than three minutes to flip the lead back in its favor at 70-69. The lead would change hands three more times before UPIKE finally went up for good on two free throws from Lee.
Free throws would be the only way the Bears scored over the final 1:06, hitting 9-of-10 shots from the stripe to preserve the lead as Georgetown didn't help itself with three last-minute turnovers.
BEAR FACTS
- UPIKE's bench posted a whopping 52-7 scoring advantage, led by the 25 from Conley and Lee and Burbridge finishing with six points each.
- Conley's nine made free throws are a season high for the Bears, as are their 15 steals.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Conley scoring 25 points for the second straight game, both coming in Mid-South Conference play. This time around she added three steals and two assists while shooting 9-of-11 from the stripe.
UP NEXT
UPIKE travels to first-year MSC program Life at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday in Marietta, Ga.
-UPIKE-
