PORTSMOUTH – Women's basketball led or had a share of the lead for all but 52 seconds Saturday night vs. Daemen College. Despite never trailing in the second half, the Bears (9-3) needed a strong stretch in the final 20 minutes to secure a 65-57 victory from a persistent Daemen squad. After Saturday night's win, Shawnee State has now handed Daemen (11-3) two of its three losses this season. The Wildcats only other loss this season came to Muskingum by three points.
Six different Bears scored at least seven points in the contest with Alannah Sheets and Allison Nagle each scoring a team-high 14 points. The Bears held a 51-31 edge in the rebounding department as Alex Pohl pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. Schera Sampson finished with 10 rebounds on the night.
The Bears jumped out to a quick lead in the opening half. After the two squads were tied at five just under three minutes into the game, SSU went on a 10-0 run to match its largest lead of the opening half with just under six minutes into play. Diane Abbady scored four of those 10, while two free throws from Sheets and a three-ball from Jessica Vidalez would cap the run.
After back-and-forth play, the Bears would again stretch their lead to 10, 19-9, with 12:06 to play. However, the Wildcats would storm back with their own 14-2 run to take their only lead of the night, 23-21, with 7:38 to play. The Bears would answer two possessions later as Nagle, who was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line, hit both her free throw attempts to tie the game. Following a defensive stop, a rebound and two free throws from Pohl would give the lead back to the Bears for good at the 5:30 mark.
Daemen would tie the contest once more in the opening half, but the Bears would never surrender the lead and held a one point advantage going into the locker room, 32-31. The two sides would trade baskets twice to start the opening half to get the score to 36-35. From there, the Bears went on a 12-2 run over the next 5:32 of playing time to go up 11.
After Daemen trimmed the Bears' lead to seven, the hosts would go up by a game-high 13 with 6:01 to play. SSU would hold an 11 point advantage with just 4:29 to play in the second half. The persistent Wildcats team would cut the lead to just four with 59 seconds to play, but two free throws from both Sheets and Nagle would seal the victory in the Bears' opener of the Shawnee State Tournament.
The two teams were remarkably close in shooting from the field and from three. The Wildcats went 23-of-61 from the field during the game and 4-of-18 from distance. The Bears were 23-of-62 from the field in the game and 5-of-19 from distance. However, the Bears missed just four of their 18 free throw attempts (77.8%) in the game, while Daemen got to the line just 13 times and made just seven of those attempts.
Kara Long was the Bears' third-leading scorer with nine point on the evening. Abbady added seven points and rebounds off the bench for the Bears on the night, while Abby Feuchter dished out seven assists running the point.
The Bears will be back in action tomorrow against Robert Morris (9-5) – a team receiving votes in the latest NAIA poll. The Eagles pulled out an 84-79 win in the opening game of the Shawnee State Tournament vs. No. 21 Georgetown College. Georgetown and Daemen will open Day Two of the Shawnee State Tournament tomorrow at 11 a.m. SSU and Robert Morris are scheduled to tip-off at 1 p.m. from inside the Waller Gymnasium.
