LIMA, Ohio -- The women's basketball program at Shawnee State received a career-high 15 points and six rebounds from Nyah Chambers and also got a 10-point, eight-rebound performance from true freshman forward Skylar Kesler, but No. 23 Shawnee State dropped its opening contest of the season to Northwestern Ohio, 68-61, Saturday evening in a nonconference contest that was held at The Garage in Lima.

Shawnee State (0-1), despite not having the services of two key figures in Lauren Hawthorne and Jariah Steele due to injury, performed well defensively as the Bears held Northwestern Ohio (3-0) to just 32.1 percent shooting (18-of-56) from the field, including a 5-of-26 mark (19.2 percent) from distance.

Shawnee State also claimed a plus-13 rebounding advantage (54-41) in the contest as well, and held Northwestern Ohio's leading scorer, Alysia Lawson -- who was averaging 42 points per game coming into Saturday's contest -- to 23 points on 21 shots while forcing Lawson into five turnovers.
Trailing by a 22-10 margin after the opening quarter of play, Shawnee State's defense stepped up in the second frame as the Bears held Northwestern Ohio without a bucket for the first 3:40 of the second quarter.

From the six-minute mark of the opening half to 2:24 left to play, Shawnee State went on an 8-0 run as TK Catchings feasted down on the low block, coming off of the bench to score six of her nine points during the run, cutting the Northwestern Ohio advantage to 29-27 with just over two minutes to go in the opening two stanzas.

While Northwestern Ohio finished off the opening half with a 6-2 push to give the Racers a 35-29 lead at the half, Shawnee State rallied the troops in the third quarter.

Down by a 39-33 margin with 6:36 to play in the third quarter, Shawnee State ripped off a 9-2 push to take its first lead of the contest, 42-41, with 3:55 to go in the third as Kesler and Chambers combined for all nine points during the stretch.

While Northwestern Ohio answered back with a 4-0 push to take a 45-42 lead with 2:43 to go in the third, Chambers and Kyla Torok responded with two fastbreak conversions in a 25-second span, giving Shawnee State a 46-45 lead heading into the final minute of the quarter. However, a three-pointer by UNOH's Jordan Mueller, which beat the third quarter buzzer, gave the Racers a 48-46 edge over the Bears heading into the final quarter of competition.

Following an early bucket by the Racers to begin the fourth quarter, Torok -- who led Shawnee State with 14 rebounds -- scored inside to pull the Bears within 50-48 with 8:35 to go.

When Northwestern Ohio extended its lead to 56-49 with 3:36 to play, Shawnee State rallied with a 5-0 run over a 48 second span, with Emily Maynard's three going down to bring SSU back within two, 56-54, with 2:48 to play.

The Bears, however, were only able to muster one point over from the 2:48 mark until 44 seconds left to play in the contest, and at that point, Northwestern Ohio opened up a 64-55 lead which proved to be too much for Shawnee State to come back from.
In addition to her 15 points and six boards, Chambers also added four steals for the Bears, while Maynard joined Torok and Kesler in crashing the glass at a high rate by nabbing nine rebounds of her own. Catchings added in five rebounds to go along with her nine points off of the bench while Jaden Tucker collected seven points, a team-high five assists and a block for Shawnee State in the contest.

Shawnee State will return to action Wednesday afternoon when the Bears play Wilberforce Wednesday evening (Nov. 5) at 6 p.m. inside Waller Gymnasium in Portsmouth.