CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Led by the four members of its senior class, women's basketball downed No. 4 Campbellsville, 80-63, on the road Saturday afternoon. The win gives the Bears (14-11, 7-7 MSC) their first weekend sweep of the Mid-South Conference schedule, while it was just the second loss that the Tigers (23-3, 13-2 MSC) have suffered in conference play. The win also makes the Bears 3-1 against Georgetown and Campbellsville this season, who are the top two teams in the conference standings.
Alannah Sheets led all scorers with 20 points in the contest. Diane Abbady also added 17 points on a 6-of-9 night from the field, while fellow seniors Priscila Santos and Catrice Mitchell added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Tabby McKinney finished just two points shy of a double figure night as she tallied eight points but was the lone player for either side to post a double figure rebound total as she came down with a game-high 15 rebounds. Campbellsville was led by Katie Allen as she finished with 16 points, while Daizah Kimberland added 14 more points to the Tigers' offense.
The Bears trailed on two occasions all night with both of those instances coming in the opening four minutes. Shawnee State held a 26-22 lead with just under five minutes to go in the opening half, but would begin to distance itself from the Tigers with a 9-2 run that featured two baskets from Sheets, another from Mitchell and a 3-pointer by Abby Feuchter to make the score 35-24.
Campbellsville would get back-to-back baskets to make the score 35-28, but a 3-pointer from Sheets and a pair of free throws from McKinney in the final minute of the half gave the Bears a 40-28 lead as the teams headed to the locker room.
Although the host Tigers could never come back to tie the game, they did make it interesting by hanging around for a majority of the second half. The closest they would come to taking the lead came following a 6-0 run that made the score 49-46 in favor of SSU with 11:35 to play.
After that run to get the game down to a one possession difference, the Bears locked down on the defensive end and did not allow Campbellsville another point for the next 4:18 of playing time until the Tigers hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line to break that scoreless stretch. During that stretch of holding Campbellsville off the scoreboard, the Bears got six points from Santos and three free throws from Abbady to widen the margin to 58-46 with 7:17 to play.
Shawnee State's lead would shrink no lower than seven points from that point on. With 2:33 left to play in the game, the Bears held a double digit lead for the remainder of the contest. Adding free throws down the stretch, the Bears 80-63 lead that they held at the final buzzer ended up being their largest margin of victory on the evening.
The Bears shot over 50-percent from the game, going 28-of-55 from the field, while limiting Campbellsville to a 23-of-73 night (31.5%) night offensively. SSU also had the edge at the free throw line as the Bears hit 20-of-28 from the charity stripe. The Tigers were just 14-of-27 in such opportunities Saturday.
In addition to a slight 45-39 advantage in rebounding, Shawnee State blocked nine Campbellsville shots on the evening. Each of the eight Shawnee State players that saw playing time on Saturday recorded at least two points. Seven of those eight dished out at least one assists, led by Feuchter's five dimes.
Women's basketball will now return to its home court this upcoming weekend for the final two home games of the season. The Bears will host Pikeville of Thursday, February 20 at 6 p.m. before Bluefield comes to town Saturday for the home finale at 2 p.m. That game against Bluefield will also be Senior Night to honor the four members of the Bears' senior class.
