WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- A championship pedigree.
All teams desire to have it. Many teams have the talent, in one form or another, to reach it.
However, at the end of the day, the results have to show to back up that pedigree.
Down by a 48-42 margin with 8:59 to go in the fourth quarter against No. 10-seeded Loyola (La.), the Shawnee State women's basketball program showcased potential championship pedigree as the Bears utilized a 28-14 fourth-quarter spurt over that final stretch to oust the Wolf Pack by a 70-62 margin in a First Round contest as part of the 2025 NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship Tournament, with the contest between Shawnee State and Loyola being played at O. Wayne Rollins Center on the campus of the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky.
Game Summary
In an evenly-contested battle, pure will power won the day for Shawnee State.
The Bears won the rebounding battle by a plus-three margin (35-32) and edged Loyola in terms of shooting accuracy, going 26-of-62 from the field (41.9 percent) as opposed to Loyola's 27-of-66 mark (40.9 percent) from the floor.
However, two of Shawnee State's main calling cards all season -- its defense and bench presence -- proved to be huge.
Overall, the Bears forced 15 turnovers and turned those turnovers into 16 points, while Loyola amassed only eight points off of turnovers themselves in the contest -- and scored over five times as many bench points as the Wolf Pack, with Shawnee State getting 22 points from its bench compared to Loyola's four.
The Bears were also clutch in terms of free throw shooting, as Shawnee State went 12-of-15 (80 percent) from the foul line.
Shawnee State didn't lead from the 7:20 mark of the second quarter to the 4:43 mark of the fourth -- but the Bears' physical and mental toughness in the above areas allowed Shawnee State to rally as Loyola was forced into nine second half turnovers and was limited to 8-of-20 shooting in the final quarter while SSU went 9-of-17 (52.9 percent shooting) from the field and 9-of-12 (75 percent) from the free throw line in the final frame.
Ellis', Gloster's will power sets tone from start to finish
Coming up big time after time as they have all season long, Shawnee State senior forward Cianna Gloster and Shawnee State junior guard Miyoshi Ellis played with chips on their shoulders throughout.
It showed in the game's beginning and at game's end.
In fact, Gloster and Ellis were especially critical to start the game -- as the duo combined for six of Shawnee State's first eight points during an 8-2 Bears run over the game's first 3:17.
The pair then came up large together again in the fourth quarter, as Gloster scored four consecutive points on tough layups as part of a 10-0 Shawnee State run that turned a 53-48 Bears deficit with 6:01 to go into a 58-53 Shawnee State advantage with 3:01 to play.
When Loyola rallied to tie the game one final time at 58 apiece, it was Ellis' driving layup off glass with 1:37 to play from the right side of the block that capped a 5-2 run to give Shawnee State a 63-60 advantage -- and Ellis capped off the win with two of Shawnee State's five free throws in the final 26 seconds to conclude matters.
Ellis ultimately posted six points, two rebounds and two assists in the final quarter of play en route to 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal on 6-of-12 shooting for the game, while Gloster added in yet another double-double with 16 rebounds and 10 points -- scoring eight of her 10 points between the first and fourth quarters of play and breaking Shawnee State's single-season rebounding record -- the same one that Gloster set just last year -- by grabbing those 16 rebounds to now sit at 376 for the 2024-25 season.
Gregory lifts Bears in third quarter
In a quarter where Loyola seemed to have the right combination of punches in terms of tough shots, the steady and poised graduate student hands of Sanaya Gregory came right back with various counterpunches of her own.
Scoring on anything from floaters to three-point field goals to pullups and drives in the lane, Gregory, simply put, was arguably the best player on the floor in a third quarter where the East Lansing, Mich. native scored all 13 of her points in the frame while going 5-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Nobody else in the quarter had more than six for either unit.
Most impressively, Gregory did the above -- in a stretch from the 8:27 to 1:07 marks of the third quarter, or a seven-minute, 20-second spurt -- bringing Shawnee State back from a 29-22 third-quarter deficit to within a 43-41 margin at the end of the frame, again proving that her skills go beyond what the box score indicates.
Hawthorne carries the torch in fourth
Following Gregory's red-hot performance in the third frame, junior forward Lauren Hawthorne took Gregory's output and added to it by taking the level up further in Shawnee State's resilient outcome.
Loyola made an early statement in the fourth quarter by going on a 5-1 run to take a 48-42 lead, but Shawnee State rallied as Hawthorne got going after drawing a foul and hitting a pair of free throws with 8:30 to play, then bringing the Bears within three by nailing a layup attempt off a feed from Ellis to score four quick points in less than a minute's time to tie the score at 48 apiece.
Loyola countered by scoring five straight to take its final lead, 53-48, with 6:01 to play, but Hawthorne countered by drilling a huge three from the right wing with 5:41 to go to pull the Bears back within two, then hit another three from the right side again after Gloster's previously mentioned conversions inside to send the Shawnee State side into a frenzy.
Hawthorne, who finished off her thrilling fourth quarter onslaught by drilling three of Shawnee State's five free throw makes in the final 26 seconds, scored 13 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter while going 4-of-5 from the field, 3-of-4 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the win.
Additional
Along with the above players, Jariah Steele contributed nine huge points and three rebounds while Emily Maynard, Lexi Deaver, Jonilyah Chambers, Jada Johnson and Laken Williams all played significant minutes in combining for the final nine tallies, as the steady ballhandling of Deaver and Williams, the defensive toughness of Johnson and Maynard and Chambers' energy off of the bench were critical components in Shawnee State's NAIA National Tournament victory in the Opening Round.
With the win, Shawnee State fourth-year head coach DeWayne Burroughs makes it 3-for-3 in terms of Shawnee State women's basketball head coaches who have won an NAIA National Tournament game at Shawnee State -- joining NAIA Hall of Famer Robin Hagen-Smith and former coach Jeff Nickel in doing so. Burroughs and assistant coaches Marnae Holland, Keisha Anderson and Chianne Gloster have been vital in turning the SSU women's basketball program around from a 4-22 unit in 2021-22 to a team that is currently 28-4 -- and still playing -- heading into Saturday evening.
The Shawnee State women's basketball program will take on No. 2-seeded Cumberlands (Ky.) for the right to advance to what would be the program's first appearance in the NAIA Round of 16 since the 2010-2011 campaign. In that season, Shawnee State ultimately went to the NAIA Fab Four.
Saturday evening's contest between the Bears and the Patriots can be watched at https://cumberlandspatriots.com/watch/?Live=1038&type=Live.
