BATESVILLE, Ark. – Women's basketball led by as many as 31 points in a convincing win against (RV) LSU-Shreveport Wednesday evening to open up the Lyon University Classic. The Pilots (8-2) poured in some points late to tighten up the final score but the Bears (7-5) emerged with an 86-72 victory. The win was Shawnee State's third straight in what was the first ever meeting between the two schools.
Reigning MSC Player of the Week Alannah Sheets continued her hot shooting from the floor as she scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field. That also included a 6-of-9 night from beyond the arc. Priscila Santos scored 21 points to help pace the offense. Diane Abbady recorded a double-double with 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds while Abby Feuchter added 10 more points.
The Bears did not waste much time before finding their grove against the Pilots. LSU-Shreveport held an 8-7 lead just under five minutes into the opening half. However, SSU would not allow another Pilot point for 4:43. During that time, the Bears would have seven offensive possessions. They scored on six of those trips down the court and held a 21-8 lead with 11:15 to play.
With 5:52 to play in the opening half, LSU-Shreveport had not let the game get any more out of reach and trailed by 12, 29-17. However, the Bears would blow the game wide open by scoring 21 of the final 25 points in the opening half to make it a 50-21 game at the half. Sheets and Santos each had 15 points at the half while Abbady had accounted for 10 more at the break.
Shawnee State finished the first half shooting 65-percent from the field (19-of-29) while the Pilots were just 8-of-29 (27%) from the field. SSU also hit 5-of-7 from the 3-point line while LSU-Shreveport came up empty on its seven attempts from distance in the opening 20 minutes.
The Pilots had shaved nine points off the Bears lead with 12:42 to play in the second half, making the score 59-39. However, Sheets hit a 3-pointer in three of the next four trips down the court to push the lead back to a game-high 29 points.
The Bears' largest lead of the night came with 6:29 to play and the score 76-45 after a basket from Abbady in the fast break. Abbady would add another basket on the next offensive possession for the Bears as they matched that 31 point advantage, 78-47 with 5:49 to play in the game. With the Bears counting down the seconds until the final buzzer, the Pilots scored 25 points in the final minutes of regulation. However, that was not nearly enough as the buzzer sounded with SSU up 86-72.
On the boards, Shawnee State held a 48-23 edge in rebounding on the evening. This included 16 offensive rebounds compared to just eight for LSU-Shreveport. In addition to her 10 points, Feuchter also finished the game with four steals and four assists.
Women's basketball will close out the 2013 portion of its schedule Thursday evening as it takes on host Lyon in a 6:30 p.m. (5:30 CST) tip.
