Pikeville, Ky. – Shawnee State women's basketball cruised to a first round victory in the Mid-South Conference Tournament on Thursday morning, crushing Life 111-49 as Ashton Lovely (JR/Jamestown, Ohio) notched her 1,000th career point.
Both teams started the contest at a break neck pace with Ashton Lovely opening the scoring for Shawnee State driving in for two. Life answered with a three-point shot to take their only lead of the first half. Shania Massie (JR/Greenfield, Ohio) provided a spark off the bench scoring 7 points The Bears ended the first quarter with a 29-16 lead. A major key to their success coming on the rebounding awareness as Shawnee outrebounded Life 26 to 11 in the first half.
In the second quarter Shawnee State pulled away scoring 33 while holding Life to only 9 points. The story of the second quarter featured Ashton Lovely scoring her 1000th point by using her trademark behind the back dribble to find an opening in the paint,and lay the ball off the glass for two. Lovely and Shania Massie both had 14 points at the half to lead SSU to a 62-25 lead on Life at the break.
SSU never let the foot off the gas coming out of the half with intensity scoring 25 points. Shania Massey continued her scoring going on a rampage adding seven to her total. At the end of the third Shawnee State led the Running Eagles 86-39.
The fourth quarter featured heavy minutes from three freshman including Hagen Schaefer (FR/Portsmouth, Ohio) who finished with five points, Laken Smith (FR/Waverly, Ohio) who finished with seven points and four rebounds, and Leah Wingeier (FR/Newark, Ohio) who had a block, eight rebounds and five points. SSU would continue to pull away from Life in the period, eventually pushing the lead out to 52 points for their biggest margin of victory of the season.
The Bears were led in scoring by Shania Massie who finished with 30 points. Notable performances include Hannah Miller (JR/Coal Grove, Ohio) who tallied 21 points and grabbed eight boards and Ashton Lovely who finished with 16 points along with senior Madison Ridout (SR/Jackson, Ohio) who added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Kennesha Nichols had 12 points to lead Life. Tierra Lindsey added 10 for the Running Eagles.
The win improves Shawnee State to 28-3 on the season. Life falls to 11-20. The Bears have now swept the season series against Life for two consecutive seasons, and lead the all-time series 6-0.
Shawnee State women's basketball return to action on Saturday, March 3 in the semifinals of the Mid-South Conference Tournament, when they will take on the winner of the Cumberland (Tenn.)-Pikeville game. Tip-off on Saturday is set for 10:00am.
