Despite a 16-point, seven-rebound effort from Anyia Pride off of the bench and a 14-point, five-assist, three-rebound performance from Bailey Cummins, the No. 11-ranked women's basketball program at Shawnee State fell in a tight 66-64 decision to No. 8 Westmont (Calif.) on Friday afternoon in the first day of games as part of the NAIA Rotary Classic, which was held in Jackson, Tenn.

Shawnee State (8-1) shot 27-of-59 from the floor (45.7 percent) for the contest and outrebounded Westmont by a 35-29 margin, but the Warriors, despite being held to a 22-of-58 shooting mark by the Bears, went 9-of-28 from downtown compared to SSU's 1-of-13 mark from deep. Shawnee State also committed 18 turnovers, and 16 over the final three quarters of action, compared to Westmont's 10 over the entirely of the contest.

Over the opening period of action, Shawnee State's defensive intensity, as well as the offensive scoring balance that the Bears showcased throughout the same stretch, provided to be problematic for Westmont as the Warriors had trouble buying a basket early on in the going.

SSU, who took off on an 8-2 spurt to begin the game after getting buckets from Cummins, Brandie Snow, Leah Wingeier, and Marnae Holland, held Westmont without a field goal over the contest's first 4:20 before Gabriella Stoll's basket inside cut the Bears' advantage to a 8-4 margin with 5:40 to play in the opening quarter.

However, Wingeier, who answered with a basket just 24 seconds later, kickstarted another spurt for Shawnee State as the Bears went on a 7-0 spurt over the following two minutes, with a trey from Snow at the 4:35 mark kicking the run into high gear. Natalie Zuchowski's five points off of the bench -- all in a span of 1:07 -- provided SSU with all it needed to extend the lead as Shawnee State took a 20-11 advantage after the first quarter of action.

Up by a 22-16 margin with 8:21 to play in the first half, Shawnee State's well-balanced attack showed in a crucial 8-0 run where Snow, Cummins, Wingeier, and Pride added in buckets to give SSU a 30-16 advantage with 6:09 to go in the half. That push proved to loom large as Westmont, unfazed, rallied with a 10-0 run that cut Shawnee State's lead back down to a four-point cushion in the waining moments of the opening half.

With 23 seconds remaining in the opening 20 minutes of action, however, Alex Ochman collected a steal, which allowed Cummins to go to work and can her patented floater with four seconds left. The bucket -- Cummins' fourth such buzzer-beating shot against a ranked opponent already this season -- put the Bears up by a 32-26 margin at the halftime break as Cummins bucket gave the senior team-highs of eight points and four assists heading into the break.

Neither team gave an inch to the other as the second half began, with both teams combining for 18 points over the first four minutes of the third frame as Shawnee State retained a tight 38-36 margin with just under 6:30 to play in the third frame of action.

When Cummins knocked down a floater to extend the SSU lead back up to four, 40-36, with 6:04 remaining in the third quarter, the basket kickstarted another critical spurt as Shawnee State went on a 12-6 run, with Pride, in particular, coming up large by scoring eight consecutive points for the Bears through her ability to run the floor. Bethany Mackin added in a pair of free throws with 45 seconds left to keep the SSU lead at eight, 50-42, after three quarters of action.

Shawnee State kept the lead at a solid eight-point margin to the 8:24 mark of the fourth quarter as an and-one by Pride, along with a Carson Roney basket, allowed the Bears to head to that juncture with the point in hand, but Westmont rallied with a sizable 12-0 run as Katlin Larson scored six consecutive points during the spurt to give Westmont a 59-55 advantage with 5:56 to go.

Shawnee State seemingly took control back as buckets by Pride and Sydney King, along with a pair of free throws from Cummins and a second-chance bucket from Holland, gave SSU a 64-61 lead with 1:25 to play, but the Warriors collected a massive and-one from Stefanie Berberabe with 67 seconds to play, then, got the game-winning free throws from Iyree Jarrett with eight seconds remaining to steal the victory as a last-second shot from Cummins missed.

Behind Cummins' and Pride's outputs, Snow (nine points) and Wingeier (eight tallies) also led SSU from a scoring output. Larson's 16 points led Westmont (5-1) while the Warriors picked up 13 points from Jarrett and 11 each from Stoll and Lauren Tsuneishi.

Shawnee State will look to rebound on Saturday afternoon when the Bears take on No. 14-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) -- who dropped a 82-61 decision to Campbellsville (Ky.) on Friday. Game time is set for 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT.

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