Hitting one's stride right in the middle of conference play can lead to immense success down the road. The progression, after all, indicates that Shawnee State could very well be hitting its stride at the right time.
The Shawnee State women's basketball program (13-7, 5-4 RSC) led throughout the final 34:32 of a River States Conference matchup against the Indiana-Kokomo women's basketball program (5-12, 2-7 RSC) Thursday evening, as Cianna Gloster posted a massive 19-point, 17-rebound outing while Lexi Deaver scored nine of her 13 points in the second half of competition en route to leading the Bears to a convincing 67-44 victory over the Cougars at Waller Gymnasium in Portsmouth.
Defensively, Shawnee State proved to be terrific throughout much of the contest -- as the Bears held IU-Kokomo to 14-of-58 shooting (24.1 percent) from the field and 3-of-19 (15.8 percent) from the charity stripe in Thursday's contest. SSU also posted a plus-14 mark in rebounds (46-32) and, offensively, scored 26 points in the paint to IU-Kokomo's 12.
Ci. Gloster cleans up again
Simply put, Shawnee State senior forward Cianna Gloster was the best player on the floor from start to finish.
In the second half, however, Gloster especially ramped it up a notch.
With her hustle, physicality and excellent blend of speed and strength simply wearing down the IU-Kokomo defense, Gloster posted a 14-point, 10-rebound, three-steal and one-block effort in the second half alone on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and a 6-of-8 mark from the charity stripe.
For the season, Gloster raised her averages to 12.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game on 61.3 percent shooting from the floor. All of those marks are either tied for or are the team lead currently -- and Gloster raised her rebounding average to where it is presently 1.4 rebounds per game above the single-season mark of Diane Abbady's set back in the 2013-14 season (10.5).
Deaver has a heater
Again showing off her deft shooting ability as well as a solid ballhanding presence, Lexi Deaver shined for the Bears -- especially in the second half of competition.
The nearby West Sider -- as locals refer to the West Portsmouth, Ohio area -- scored nine of her 13 points in the second half of play while going 4-of-5 from the field to boot.
Deaver is now up to 8.6 points per game on the year and is shooting 38.2 percent from three-point range for the 2023-24 campaign.
Latham makes them pay to start
Shawnee State, who jumped out to a 13-6 first quarter lead to start the contest, was aided by the play of freshman wing Amiya Latham -- who showed off her long-bombing ability once again in the opening quarter of action.
Latham ultimately scored seven points in the opening quarter alone behind two long range connections, including a right wing three-pointer that the 5-6 talent drained with help from the backboard. Like Deaver, Latham has shown the ability to spread the defense via the three-point shot -- and has knocked down 36.8 percent of her own three-point attempts this season.
Additional
Chianne Gloster's eight points and eight rebounds, Sanaya Gregory's eight points and four assists and Markayla Holland's six points and five rebounds were also big numbers in the win -- as the trio played 31, 34 and 29 minutes respectively en route to providing the Bears with a veteran presence on the floor throughout their time in the contest.
Shawnee State, who won its third contest in a row, will turn its attention to a matchup against Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. inside Waller Gymnasium.
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