GEORGETOWN, Ky. – A tough weekend on the road continued Saturday afternoon for No. 13 women's basketball as the Bears dropped their second straight Mid-South Conference game to No. 23 Georgetown, 85-75. The Bears (14-5, 5-4 MSC) turned the ball over 24 times in the loss, and consequently the Tigers (11-6, 5-3 MSC) held a 21-10 advantage in points off turnovers in the win.
SSU also had no answers for Kourtney Tyra, who finished with a game-high 22 points and 13 assists, as she scored her 1,000th-career point. Andrea Howard also had 20 points for the hosts. For the Bears, Alex Pohl finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for her third straight double-double. Schera Sampson also scored a team-high 20 points in limited time due to foul trouble while Alannah Sheets added 17 points.
After SSU scored on the opening possession, Georgetown answered with a three in its first trip down the court and it would hold the edge up until there was 5:36 to play in the opening half. Despite the large span of time in which they didn't relinquish the lead, the Tigers never led by more than six during that time. Abby Feuchter would hit a three to tie the game up at 30-all on the next Bears possession and they would take their first lead since the opening tip when Schera Sampson knocked down at three with 2:25 to play in the opening half.
That would be the last basket of the half for the Bears. Meanwhile, the Tigers would score four more points on their offensive end and took a one-point advantage, 34-33, into halftime. Two free throws by Allison Nagle would be the first points of the second half and give the Bears the lead back for the time being.
The Tigers would eventually work their lead back to three, 49-46, with 14:31 to play. From there, an 11-2 run by the hosts would give them a 12-point edge, 60-48, with 9:26 left to play. The Bears got that deficit down to as few as eight over the next four-plus minutes, but with 4:40 left on the game clock the Tigers built the lead back and still found themselves leading by 10.
Field goals from Feuchter and Sampson, along with a 3-of-4 effort from the free throw line from Pohl got the Bears back to within five. However, Georgetown would answer that brief run with four straight points of their own to go up by nine with 1:52 to play. Sheets would get the game back to a seven-point deficit but the Tigers answered right back with two free throws. After an SSU free throw made the deficit eight, a full-court pass from Georgetown beat the Bears' defensive press and the Tigers went up 10 with 22 seconds and held onto that 10-point lead in the end after each team traded one more free throw each.
Adding to the Bears' trouble with turnovers was the Tigers' hot shooting from three. The hosts went 7-of-16 from three while the Bears were just 4-of-16 from beyond the arc. Georgetown also went 20-of-25 from the charity stripe while SSU was just 11-of-20 for the game.
Women's basketball will be back in action next Saturday, January 19 at 2 p.m. vs. Bluefield College in Waller Gymnasium. That game will be played as part of Homecoming Weekend. The game with Bluefield will also mark the halfway point of conference play as the Bears will then play each of its MSC foes for a second time this season to close out the regular season.
