PORTSMOUTH, Ohio --
Miyoshi Ellis will tell you first that her season-opening outing against Northwestern Ohio wasn't what she, or her team, wanted it to be.
Great players and great individuals, however, put rough outings to bed quickly.
Coming off of the bench for the No. 23 Shawnee State women's basketball program against Wilberforce, the senior guard from Harlem, N.Y. matched her career-high with 24 points and added in eight assists to go along with five rebounds in the Bears' 79-50 blitz of the Bulldogs Wednesday evening in a nonconference contest that was held at Waller Gymnasium in Portsmouth.
GAME SUMMARY
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No. 23 Shawnee State, who evened its overall record to 1-1 with the win in its home opener, trailed just once (2-0), and at that juncture, trailed for just 30 seconds before SSU ripped off a 6-0 run off of layups by Nyah Chambers and back-to-back buckets from
TK Catchings in the paint.
Wilberforce closed to within 8-7 with 2:31 to go in the opening frame of action, but Shawnee State responded with a 20-5 run over a span of 8:06 between the first and second quarters to extend its lead to 28-12 with 5:15 to play in the second quarter. Wilberforce never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way in the 29-point Shawnee State win.
In a controlled defensive effort by the Bears, Shawnee State held Wilberforce to 21-of-68 shooting (30.9 percent) from the field and 5-of-23 shooting (21.7 percent) from the three-point line. The Bears also secured a plus-11 rebounding advantage (46-35) over the Bulldogs in the contest.
Ellis makes it easy
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The team's tablesetter throughout in her 28 minutes off of the bench, Ellis was, simply put, electric from start to finish.
Assisting or scoring on 11 of Shawnee State's final 18 points to conclude the opening half, Ellis, who had nine points at the break, really turned it on in the second half, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter alone to keep Wilberforce at bay. Ellis ultimately scored or assisted on 13 of Shawnee State's final 17 points to conclude matters in helping the Bears seal the deal.
ADDITIONAL
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Along with Ellis, Shawnee State junior forward
Kyla Torok wreaked havoc with her plus athleticism all night, and used excellent extension on her mid-range jumpers from in and around the free throw line to finish with an efficient 12 points and four rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting in 22 minutes of game action.
Chambers and Catchings, who started the scoring, finished with nine points, four rebounds and two steals and eight points, five rebounds and two blocks respectively while Cincinnati Winton Woods freshmen
Skylar Kesler and
Ra'Khyia Prince continued to play at excellent paces, with Kesler posting 10 rebounds and seven points and Prince adding in eight tallies.
Laken Williams (five points),
Emily Maynard (eight rebounds, three points),
Savannah Cantrell (two points) and
Kenya Peck (one point) completed the scoring for Shawnee State in the win.
The Bears will be back in action Wednesday, Nov. 12 when Shawnee State takes on Simmons (Ky.) in an 11 a.m. contest at Waller Gymnasium that will serve as the Courtside Cubs community event contest.
For more information on the Shawnee State women's basketball program, visit the Bears on Instagram atÂ
https://www.instagram.com/shawneestatebears_wbb/Â or on X atÂ
https://x.com/SSUWBB.
