The women's basketball program at Shawnee State got an outstanding 20-point effort from Markayla Holland and had a total of seven additional players score between five to nine points in Saturday's River States Conference contest against Rio Grande, but in a gladitorial affair, the Bears fell to the RedStorm by a 70-68 margin Saturday afternoon at Newt Oliver Arena in Rio Grande.

Both units, who shot an identical 39 percent from the field with Rio Grande claiming a slight edge on the rebounding battle (40-39), battled to nine ties and 14 lead changes over the grueling affair. Shawnee State, however, led the entire third quarter of action and paced Rio Grande for the first 3:57 of the fourth frame before both units traded blows repeatedly down the stretch.

Cianna Gloster, who finished with 15 rebounds and eight points in the contest, scored inside on a layup with 1:47 to play to give Shawnee State a 68-67 lead -- a margin that held firm until Rio Grande's final offensive possession, when Kaylee Darnell, who posted a team-high 15 points for Rio Grande, knocked down a three-pointer while being fouled to give Rio Grande the lead with 17.4 seconds to play.

Shawnee State got an opportunity to tie, but a layup grazed off of the rim and Aziyah Williams knocked the ball back out toward halfcourt to seal the heartbreaking setback.

Holland goes on the attack

From the outset, Shawnee State sophomore talent Markayla Holland wasted no time establishing herself early and often, setting the tone for a fantastic duel between the two programs.

Ultimately, Holland was terrific -- scoring on an array of drives and various moves from 10 feet and in. The Waterford, Mich. talent went 3-of-5 from the field in the opening quarter to match Rio Grande's Lexi Woods with a game-high eight points after the opening quarter of action, then went off in the third quarter by nabbing 12 points and three steals in the frame while shooting 4-of-6 from the field and the charity stripe.

Holland, along with fellow teammate Lexi Deaver and the aforementioned Woods, were the only players in the contest to shoot above 50 percent from the field while taking more than five shots in the contest.

Additional

While no other talents joined Holland in double-figure land, various individuals stepped up throughout the contest. Cianna Gloster's previously mentioned competitiveness on the glass kept Shawnee State essentially even on the glass against a deep Rio Grande frontline, while Deaver knocked down each of her first four shots from the field -- the last of which included an and-one through contact -- to lead the Bears with nine points at the halftime break. Jariah Steele scored all eight of her points in the opening half, in large part by knocking down six of her eight free throw attempts, to also give SSU a lift.

The outside shooting of Emily Maynard and Teyarra Johnson allowed the pair to combine for 11 points each while going 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range, while Chianne Gloster's physical presence inside and Sanaya Gregory's steady presence as the lead guard kept SSU in the fight all the way down to the last possession of the contest.

Shawnee State's defensive effort on Rio Grande was second-to-none as the RedStorm, who came into the contest as the NAIA's top scoring unit at 98.9 points per contest, were held to 70 tallies on their home floor. Saturday's contest was the first time that the RedStorm had been held to less than 75 points this year at Newt Oliver Arena. Rio Grande was also second nationally in offensive field goal percentage at 50.7 percent coming into the game, but was held to 39.1 percent by the SSU defense.

Shawnee State (14-9, 6-6 RSC) will get two days of rest before making the trek southward to face Alice Lloyd (Ky.) in Pippa Passes. The River States Conference road contest is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.

For more information on SSU Bears Athletics, visit www.ssubears.com or visit the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages at https://twitter.com/ SSUBears, https://www. facebook.com/SSUBears, https:/ /www.instagram.com/ssubears/? hl=en, and https://www. youtube.com/@ ssubearsathletics/videos. For more information on how to join the SSU Bear Club or for sponsorship of specific SSU players or events, visit https://givetossu.com/ bear-club and https:// givetossu.com/sponsorthebears.

For more information on SSU Bears Athletics, visit www.ssubears.com or visit the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages at https://twitter.com/ SSUBears, https://www. facebook.com/SSUBears, https:/ /www.instagram.com/ssubears/? hl=en, and https://www. youtube.com/@ ssubearsathletics/videos. For more information on how to join the SSU Bear Club or for sponsorship of specific SSU players or events, visit https://givetossu.com/ bear-club and https:// givetossu.com/sponsorthebears.