PORTSMOUTH – No. 15 women's basketball jumped out early and never looked back in its 91-77 win over No. 10 Campbellsville Saturday afternoon inside Waller Gymnasium. In addition to the Bears (14-3, 5-2 MSC) giving the Tigers (12-3, 6-1 MSC) their first conference loss of the season, Alannah Sheets also reached the 1,000-point plateau for her career with 15 points. She became the 28th player in program history to reach that mark and second this season (Alex Pohl).
Campbellsville came into the game averaging over 80 points per contest on the offensive end, which was tops in the Mid-South Conference. To counterbalance the Tigers' strong offensive attack, five Bears scored in double figures during the victory. Pohl led all Bears with a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. On her milestone day, Sheets scored 15. Eleven of those came during the second half. Diane Abbady added another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Schera Sampson and Allison Nagle also scored 12 points.
The Bears took a double-digit lead early with a 14-4 run to start the game including each of the first seven points. They had built their 10-point lead in just under four minutes of total playing time. Over the next four minutes, with 12 minutes to play in the opening half, SSU had built a first half-high 17 point advantage, 25-8. Campbellsville would get the game to within four with just over four minutes to play in the opening half, 30-26, but the Bears would respond and stretch that lead back out to 10 by the break, 44-34.
The first seven-plus minutes of the second half would see both teams go back-and-forth as the SSU lead sat 11 points, 54-44, with 12:54 to play. A 7-0 run by the Bears would stretch the lead to 18 with just over 11 minutes to play. By the time there was less than nine minutes to play, SSU had put a 20-point lead on the visiting Tigers and would never hold a lead of less than the final margin of 14 for the remainder of play.
Down the stretch, the Bears' largest lead stood at 24 points before coasting home with the 91-77 victory. After seven conference games, the Bears now sit in third place in the Mid-South. They are just one game behind Campbellsville for first and a half game back of Cumberland.
In addition to the five double-digit scorers, Abby Feuchter recorded nine points and seven assists while not committing a turnover the entire contest. Desirai Smith added eight points and four assists. Sampson also added five blocks in the winning effort.
After two conference wins at home, women's basketball will head out on the road this weekend. The first of those games will be next Thursday, January 10 at St. Catharine in a 6 p.m. start. They will also take on Georgetown that Saturday. The next home game for the Bears will be January 19 vs. Bluefield. That game will also serve as Homecoming.
