BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- For the third-seeded University of Pikeville women's basketball team, it was one of those nights.
No. 6 Georgetown College eliminated the Bears from the 2023 Mid-South Conference basketball tournament on Friday night 80-69.
With the loss, Pikeville (21-8) will await placement in the NAIA national tournament as an at-large entrant. Georgetown will take an 18-12 record into Sunday's semifinals where it will play No. 7 Shawnee State, which upset second-seeded Thomas More in Friday's opener.
Pikeville finished the game 25-of-61 (41.0 percent) from the floor and 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) from the arc. To complicate matters, the Bears committed an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers
Grad student Hailey Free opened the game with a layup, but after that, Georgetown went on an 18-4 run to take control. Madison Darnell scored seven in the run, which lasted until the Bears finally got a three-point play from Mid-South Conference freshman of the year Allie Stone with 1:13 to play.
To complicate matters, both Free and Mary Englert picked up two fouls in the stretch, which contributed to a 20-9 Tiger lead after one.
Pikeville got back within eight, 26-18, after freshman Hannah Roberts and senior Bailey Frazier scored in the paint with 6:46 left in the half. But the Tigers again broke free, scoring 14 of the game's next 18 points. Five different players scored for Georgetown, including Jalynn Landversicht, who had five points.
A reverse layup by Frazier with 22 seconds left in the half sent the Bears to the break trailing 40-24.
UPIKE opened the second half with five of the first seven points, as Stone scored four points to pull the Bears within 13 at 42-29. But Georgetown clamped down on the defensive end, holding the Bears scoreless over the next three minutes to get the lead back to 19 (48-29).
In the final 3:44 of the period, Pikeville outscored the Tigers 12-6. Saddled with three fouls, Englert returned to score the last seven of the period, and her free throws with 17.2 seconds left pulled the Bears back within 13 at 54-41.
Trailing 60-43 early in the final frame, the Bears had a 10-2 run to get it to single digits when freshman Katie Collopy sank a free throw with 3:57 left.
A late three by grad student Sierra Feltner with 51 seconds left got the Bears within seven at 72-65, but it would get no closer.
Stone led the Bears with 18 points, followed by Englert's 15. The duo combined to make all 11 of their free throw tries.
Frazier followed with 11 points and led the Bears with six rebounds.
Freshman Erin Toller led all scorers with 21 for Georgetown. Senior Madison Darnell followed with 20.
--UPIKE--
