ADRIAN, Mich. – The tough non-conference slate for women's basketball continued Sunday afternoon as the Bears (4-5) dropped the consolation game of the Siena Heights Thanksgiving Tournament to NAIA DII No. 9 St. Xavier (6-3), 82-70.
The Cougars were led offensively by Jordan Brandt as she finished with a game-high 30 points for the winning squad. Two other players also recorded double figure scoring totals for St. Xavier in the win. Alannah Sheets led the Bears with points. Abby Feuchter scored 14 points while Shay Robinson also added 12 points on the day. At the end of the tournament, Sheets would be one of six players selected from the weekend on the All-Tournament team.
Today's contest saw St. Xavier jump out to a quick advantage. With both sides having just two offensive points nearly four minutes into the game, the Cougars added a free throw to make it 3-2 with 16:08 to play in the opening half. Little did it seem at the time, however, that would be the first point in a 12-0 run that saw St. Xavier go up 14-2 with 13:21 to play in the opening half. The Cougars would lead by as many as 13, 17-4, just over seven minutes into the game.
Trailing 23-11 with 10:45 to play in the opening half, Shawnee State made its offensive move with the Bears pulling out a quick 9-0 run which featured four points from Sheets in just over two minutes to get that deficit down to three, 23-20, with 8:32 to play in the opening half.
The Bears would finally dig themselves completely out of the early hole as Feuchter drained a three to knot the score at 28 with 4:26 to play in the opening half. St. Xavier would get its lead back up to as many as five points in the remaining moments of the opening half but another three from Feuchter made it a one-point game, 38-37 in favor of the Cougars, at the break.
Just over three minutes into the second half, SSU still trailed by just one, 42-41. This time it was the Cougars chance to get hot from beyond the arc as a pair of threes helped them build a 51-43 lead with with 13:49 to play. The Cougars would be holding an eight-point lead, 58-50, when both teams went cold from the field with 11:48 remaining.
A 3-pointer from Sheets would end a three minute scoreless draught from both sides to get the Bears within five with and nine minutes to play. The closest that SSU would come to St. Xavier down the stretch would be four points, 64-60, with 5:10 to play after a three from Kara Long. However, St. Xavier would answer with back-to-back scoring possessions to go up 69-60 and four minutes to play.
Shawnee State would get a pair of free throws from Robinson and another field goal from Sheets to make it a five-point game again, 69-64, with just under three minutes to play but the Bears not could not get enough defensive stops strung together to come any closer. With the final three points of the game, St. Xavier's 12-point lead at the final buzzer ended up being its largest lead of the second half.
For the game, St. Xavier shot 9-of-16 from three while the Bears were 9-of-26 in the contest. Feuchter was a perfect 4-for-4 from the 3-point line.
Women's basketball will look to turn its recent fortunes around at home in the coming weeks as it will play its next three games inside Waller Gymnasium. The first of those contests will be Saturday, December 7 when Cincinnati Christian visits Portsmouth.
