The women's basketball program at Shawnee State suffered a tough setback against the Point Park (Pa.) Pioneers' women's basketball program Saturday afternoon, as Shawnee State dropped a 92-78 decision Saturday afternoon in a River States Conference matchup that was held in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Shawnee State (6-3, 0-2 River States Conference) shot a strong 28-for-60 from the field (46.7 percent) and posted a proficient 8-for-21 shooting mark from three-point range (38.1 percent) in the contest, while the Bears' bench outscored the reserves from Point Park (5-3, 2-0 RSC) by a 33-8 tally. Shawnee State also kept the ball hopping at a consistent rate by posting 11 assists on 28 made shots from the field.
Free throw shooting, however, ultimately proved to be the deciding factor -- as the Bears went 14-for-34 from the line (41.2 percent) compared to the Pioneers' 28-for-37 mark at the charity stripe (75.7 percent).
Holland provides resistance to Point Park
Playing well from start to finish on Saturday, Shawnee State sophomore Markayla Holland gave the Bears a big lift.
In the first quarter of play alone, Holland directly scored or assisted on 14 of the Bears' first 17 points to start the game, and helped the Bears take a 6-1 lead early on by scoring each of Shawnee State's first five points to begin the contest.
Holland ultimately supplied 12 points, four assists, three steals, two rebounds, and two blocks on 4-for-9 shooting in the opening half of play alone, and finished the 40-minute outing with 20 points, five steals, four rebounds, four assists and two blocks on 7-for-16 shooting from the floor.
Deaver, Latham, Steele pack scoring punch
Needing secondary scoring outside of Holland, freshmen talents Lexi Deaver, Amiya Latham and Jariah Steele all provided lifts for Shawnee State offensively.
Deaver, in particular, was terrific in the second half of action as the freshman lead guard supplied 14 second-half points and went 6-for-8 from the field -- including 2-for-3 in the second half from three-point range -- in the final 20 minutes of play.
Latham, who again showed off her own long-range proficiency, scored six points in both halves of competition en route to finishing with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the floor and 3-for-6 shooting from three-point range, all while adding in a pair of steals to boot in the contest, and Steele scored six points in the third quarter en route to 10 points for the contest while adding in four rebounds to boot and a 3-for-5 shooting mark from the field.
Additional
Despite dealing with early foul trouble that forced the senior to sit for all but four minutes of the opening half, Cianna Gloster still finished with nine points, five rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists for Shawnee State, while Maelynn Howell supplied four points and four rebounds in 13 minutes off of the bench. Teyarra Johnson (four rebounds, three points), Chianne Gloster (three rebounds, three points, two blocks, steal) and Emily Maynard (five rebounds) rounded out Shawnee State's contributors in the contest.
The Shawnee State women's basketball program returns to Waller Gymnasium Tuesday evening for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff against fellow NAIA in-state program Wilberforce (1-8), who competes as a member of the Continental Athletic Conference.
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