Thur., Nov. 9 | 9:00 p.m. ET | (RV) UPIKE vs. No. 11 Bethel | Watch | Live Stats
Fri., Nov. 10 | 6:30 p.m. ET | (RV) UPIKE vs. Blue Mountain | Watch | Live Stats
Sat., Nov. 11 | 2:00 p.m. ET | (RV) UPIKE vs. (RV) Martin Methodist | Watch | Live Stats
PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Pikeville women's basketball team is set to take on another challenging set of games as it readies to play three in three days as part of the Mid-South Conference/Southern States Athletic Association Challenge starting on Thursday in McKenzie, Tenn.
First up for the Bears is a matchup with host Bethel (Tenn.) at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, followed by a 6:30 p.m. tip against Blue Mountain (Miss.) on Friday, before wrapping up against Martin Methodist at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The MSC teams at the event include UPIKE, Campbellsville and Shawnee State (Ohio) while the SSAC contingent includes Bethel, Blue Mountain and Martin Methodist.
Of the six teams, three are ranked, including No. 5 Shawnee State, No. 6 Campbellsvile and No. 11 Bethel. Both Pikeville and Martin Methodist are receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches' Poll.
Shawnee State and Martin Methodist are the lone undefeated teams that have started their seasons.
SSU is 3-0 with wins of 56, 42 and 25 points, including a 94-68 rout of West Virginia Tech and MMC is 2-0 with a 21-point win over Stillman and 57-53 decision over No. 22 Cumberland (Tenn.). For Campbellsville, these three games will serve as its season openers.
No. 11 Bethel is 2-1 with its lone loss coming against third-ranked Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 74-47 last Saturday. Prior to that loss, the Wildcats had posted two lopsided wins at home against Hiwassee (Tenn.) and Fisk (Tenn.).
Blue Mountain, which went 10-16 last season, is the most unfamiliar team to the Bears with its campus all the way down in Mississippi. The Toppers are 0-2 early on with an 82-41 loss at Freed-Hardeman and 64-62 loss to Williams Baptist. Things don't get any easier either as they are set to play No. 6 Campbellsville, UPIKE and No. 5 Shawnee State on consecutive days.
UPIKE has challenged itself early in the season, starting things off with a 90-82 loss at Marian (Ind.), the two-time defending NAIA Div. II champion. After that, the Bears hosted the Appalachian Wireless Classic in which they lost to Bluefield (Va.) 73-67 before holding off Milligan (Tenn.) 64-41 to enter this MSC/SSAC Challenge with a 1-2 record.
All nine games of the challenge can be seen on Bethel's "Wildcat Vision" platform with live stats also available on the NAIA DakStats site.
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