Despite placing five scorers in double-figures, the women's basketball program at Shawnee State couldn't obtain a road victory as SSU allowed the Pikeville women's basketball program to shoot 57.8 percent from the field and win the rebounding battle by a plus-19 margin (44-25) in a 92-74 loss to UPike at Appalachian Wireless Arena in Pikeville Monday evening.
Shawnee State, who gave up 28 points in the opening quarter and trailed by 12 after shooting only 6-of-15 from the field in the opening frame, put together its best effort of the contest during the second quarter.
Going into a press in an effort to intensify ball pressure on UPike, the defensive play of Marnae Holland and Hagen Schaefer in that particular look worked in the second 10-minute stanza, with SSU holding UPike scoreless over the quarter's first 4:46 en route to clawing their way back within striking distance of the lead.
Carson Roney's offensive production in the quarter then allowed Shawnee State to draw closer, with Roney, at one point, scoring 11 straight SSU points in a span of 2:07 to bring Jeff Nickel's squad within four points on two separate occasions. However, three Shawnee State turnovers over the quarter's final two minutes proved to be costly, as UPike scored on each SSU miscue to ultimately push the lead back to double-digits, 46-34, at the halftime break.
Bethany Mackin started the third quarter in a promising fashion by knocking down a three-pointer just a minute and eight seconds into the second half to cut Pikeville's lead down to a 46-37 margin, but two separate stretches of 2:17 and 3:25 without a field goal in the quarter and an 18-8 rebounding disadvantage in the third period alone proved to be the fatal demise for SSU in the contest.
SSU got a 22-point outing from Roney, who scored 15 points in the opening half, to head up the output, while Holland scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half for Shawnee State (8-1, 2-1 MSC). Roney also added four steals while Holland posted five rebounds.
Brandie Snow scored seven of her 14 points in the opening quarter to go along with six rebounds and five steals, while Mackin, who scored eight of her 11 points in the second half, and Anyia Pride, who posted eight of her 10 tallies in the opening 20 minutes, rounded out the double-figure scorers. Brianna Burbridge's game-high 26 points and 14 rebounds led UPike (6-1, 2-1).
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