PORTSMOUTH, Ohio -- A furious fourth-quarter rally came up short for the 22nd-ranked University of Pikeville women's basketball team as it lost 75-69 at No. 6 Shawnee State on Saturday.
UPIKE (16-7, 5-4 MSC) trailed by seven with five minutes to play at 65-58 before going on a 6-0 run to get within one with 1:48 on the clock. In the final minute, Devin Conley nailed a three to tie the game at 67 and Elisabeth Latham made a layup to tie it at 69, but the Bears could never claw to a lead.
Instead, SSU (22-2, 8-1 MSC) scored the final six points of the game by going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line as UPIKE missed two shots and turned the ball over once in the final minute.
Conley led UPIKE with 17 points, including five 3s, Brianna Burbridge scored 11 off the bench and Kandice Porter and Aundrea Matchen chipped in with 10 points each.
Shawnee State got 16 points from Bailey Cummins and Brandie Snow and Jonessa Moore tallied 15 each. Moore also pulled down seven rebounds.
UPIKE ended up outrebounding SSU 30-26 as Burbridge let it on the glass with seven boards while also swiping five steals. Taylor McGlade matched her with five steals and Latham sent back three blocks.
Pikeville ended up outshooting SSU 46.7 to 45.8 percent from the field after throwing in 6 of 12 shots from behind the arc in the second half.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
UPIKE held its last lead in the first half at 10-9 after a Burbridge free throw and continued to hang tight to SSU four minutes later when it was a tie game at 19-19 with 25 seconds on the clock. But Shawnee used those last seconds to go on a 5-0 run to end the quarter with a three from Cummins and layup by Brandie Snow.
SSU's success continued after the break, scoring eight of the first 10 points in the second quarter to take a 32-21 lead. The lead grew as large as 13 points at 40-27, but UPIKE didn't allow SSU to score over the final 2:35 and got a free throw and long jumper from Castle to trail by 10 at halftime.
Shawnee had outshot the Bears 53.1 to 44.8 percent in the half, but UPIKE controlled the glass 15-12, including a 5-3 lead on the offensive boards, to slow down SSU's hot start the second quarter.
SSU's lead stayed consistent for most of the third quarter up until the 3:06 mark when a put back by Moore gave it a 14-point lead, the largest of the game. But Shawnee would only score two more points the rest of the frame as a 10-2 UPIKE run got it within six after a nifty pass from Conley to Burbridge for an easy two.
The rally didn't continue to start the final quarter as SSU scored the first three points to go up by nine and it was still up by seven three minutes later at 65-58. The ensuing 6-0 Pikeville run brought some excitement late, especially when it had the ball down by two with 30 seconds to go.
There were a couple open looks on that final play, but ultimately Conley was bumped on a drive down the lane, causing her to lose the ball out of bounds.
UP NEXT
UPIKE returns home for a non-conference game at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday against Kentucky Christian at the East Ky. Expo Center.
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