PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – UPIKE women's basketball nearly pulled off their second big upset of the year on Saturday but couldn't finish off the season sweep of No. 9 Shawnee State, losing on the road 84-77.

Pikeville weathered multiple storms but eventually foul trouble got the best of the Bears as Shawnee pulled away late on the strength of their free throw shooting. SSU made 23 of 28 free throws in the contest.

Brianna Burbridge was a dominant force for the Bears with 26 points and 16 rebounds, both of which were season highs for the junior.

After the first five minutes, it appeared there wouldn't be much of a contest after Shawnee was spotted a 15-4 lead. However, UPIKE ended the quarter on a 14-0 run to take a lead into the second quarter.

For most of the rest of the game it was a back and forth battle.

Despite being relatively shut down for the other two quarters, Shawnee State's offense caught fire in the second and third quarters. Shawnee outscored Pikeville 49-38 in those two quarters.

UPIKE entered the fourth quarter down by eight and still was able to draw in one possession after a corner 3-pointer from Mary Englert and a layup by Burbridge.

Englert was a big part of the fourth quarter effort, scoring six of her 14 total points in the period. Mia Greatrex was the other UPIKE double-figure scorer with 11 points and seven rebounds.

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With the loss, UPIKE finishes in a tie for fifth place in the Mid-South Conference with Cumberlands. Based on the fourth head-to-head tiebreaker (UPIKE's win against Shawnee State), the Bears will enter the MSC tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face Thomas More at 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday at Bowling Green High School in Bowling Green, Ky.

-UPIKE-