Pikeville, KY – UPIKE women's basketball found themselves locked in another hard-fought matchup on Saturday, defeating (24) Bethel in a game that came down to the final seconds. The Bears secured the win with a pair of free throws from Brianna Burbridge with 0:04 remaining in the contest.

The win puts the Bears at a strong 8-4 on the season and evens their conference mark at 4-4. UPIKE has now defeated Bethel twice in 2020-21, and has taken down four top-25 opponents.

Mary Englert notched her ninth double-digit scoring effort of the season in the win as the Madiera, OH native dropped a team-high 17 points. Englert went 6-9 from the floor and a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc.

Brianna Burbridge pulled off the late game heroics for the Bears on a dribble drive to the basket to draw a foul, setting up a pair of free throws as the Bears trailed 65-66 with five seconds to play. Burbridge came through, connecting on both free throw to secure the win and finishing the game with 10 points, 12 rebounds. Burbridge has an impressive eight double-doubles of the season following Saturday's effort. Alexis Reed tacked on 12 points for UPIKE including a pair of key threes in the fourth quarter to tie the game.

UPIKE hit 25 of 62 attempts from the field while having one of their best three-point shooting performances of the season going 10-17 for 58% from deep. The Bears dominated on the boards as well, outrebounding Bethel 37 to 28.

UPIKE was smooth in the first quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 22-14 in the opening period. Within the first six minutes, freshman Julia Parker caught fire from deep, splashing four three-pointers in as the Bears held a comfortable lead. Englert closed the quarter with a nice stretch that included a pair of threes and a layup.

Bethel climbed back into the game in the second quarter, going out on a 8-3 run to come within three at the 4:30 mark. UPIKE stayed on top via a three from Englert and a bucket from Sierra Feltner and carried a 35-32 lead into the break.

Bethel managed to tie the game with 3:45 to go in the third after a solid stretch, taking the 46-43 lead on the following possession. UPIKE fought back, not allowing the Wildcats to stretch their lead beyond three points, and went into the final quarter down 51-49.

The real story of the game came after Feltner's two pointer at the 1:56 mark tied the game at 63-63. The two teams matched for the next 30 seconds, tying up at 65 before both teams launched into a strategy of timeouts. With 10 seconds to go, coach Williams' squad forced a turnover and after the timeout Brianna Burbridge braved the troop of Wildcats to drive the paint and draw a foul with 0:04 on the clock. Burbridge hit both to secure the win for UPIKE.

UPIKE women's basketball returns to action on Monday, January 11^th as they hit the road to take on Life University. Tip-off from the Eagles Nest in Marietta, GA is slated for 6PM.