PIKEVILLE, Ky. – UPIKE's shots weren't falling early, but the Bears found enough upset to avoid an upset bid from Bluefield with a 70-68 win.

Pikeville fended off the Rams thanks to a great effort in the closing minutes from senior Yurleis Estrada, who scored seven of the Bears' last 10 points.

The Bears made up for its off night shooting with a great job of getting to and converting from the free-throw stripe. UPIKE went 19-25 from the charity line in the game, including a 10-12 mark in the fourth quarter.

Pikeville started the game ice cold from the field with 2-15 shooting in the first quarter, but only trailed by seven. UPIKE responded with a dominant second quarter, outscoring the Rams by ten to go into halftime with a three-point lead.

Bluefield would refuse to go away though. Despite BC constantly knocking on the door, UPIKE never surrendered the lead fully. The Rams did tie the game twice, including a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the third quarter.

UPIKE started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run, started by a corner three from Bailey Frazier. From there, Sierra Feltner and Kayla Mullins took over on offense. The two used a pick and pop play on three consecutive possessions to build a nine-point lead.

That duo led UPIKE offensively with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Feltner added five assists and four rebounds to her line score.

Despite UPIKE building a nine-point lead, Bluefield kept coming back within striking distance until Estrada delivered the crushing blows late.

UP NEXT

UPIKE will look to continue its perfect start on Tuesday when the Bears face Rio Grande at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Appalachian Wireless Arena.

-UPIKE-