Henderson, TN – Women's basketball got back to their late-season winning ways Thursday evening in a 71-60 defeat of Freed-Hardeman. The Bears are now 11-10 in the MSC, positioned at sixth in the conference ahead of Saturday's contest against Bethel. MSC Tournament action is set to begin next week, starting with opening-round play on Monday.

Four Bears notched double-digit scoring efforts, led by Mary Englert who had 14 points. Sierra Feltner had a monster eight-point fourth quarter and finished with 13 while both Frazier and Reed had 12.  UPIKE hit a 40% clip from the floor and outrebounded Freed-Hardeman 36-32. For the fifth game in a row, the Bears have missed less than five free throws, going 21 of 25 from the stripe.

The first half was the best half of shooting from the Bears this season as they connected on 15 of 21 shots from the floor for an impressive 71.4%. Shots from Stamper, Englert, and Frazier put the Bears ahead early in the first as they took a 7-4 lead after four minutes. 2:40 to go in the first quarter marked the first Lions lead as they hit a jumper to go up 12-11. LeeAnna McNulty powered through the final minutes of the first quarter, scoring four straight in the paint to give the Bears a 19-14 advantage moving into the second.

Feltner popped open the third with a deep three to set the tone for UPIKE, sparking a run that put the Bears up by 14 with 7:00 to go. Freed-Hardeman answered with an 8-0 run of their own to make things interesting for the final minutes of the quarter. Reed and Englert both splashed threes to close the quarter as the Bears held a comfortable 55-43 lead.

Freed did some damage to the lead in the fourth but couldn't come within five of the Bears lead to close out the contest.

With the win, the Bears move a game over .500 in conference play, with an overall mark of 17-11. The regular-season finale at Bethel is slated for 2PM on Saturday, February 19th in McKenzie, TN.
Keep an eye on social media and upikebears.com for MSC Tournament details. With the weekend results pending across the conference, the Bears are likely to host an opening-round game on Monday, February 21st.