WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- From start to finish, the Shawnee State women's basketball program faced adversities, trials and tribulations that many programs face throughout the course of a season.
However, over the last 24 hours, the Shawnee State women's basketball program showed what a team that defeated those mentioned trials and tribulations can do, which is a team that, in reaching its potential, played excellent team basketball all while putting an evident fear into the best of the best at the NAIA level.
Shawnee State got two more excellent performances from Miyoshi Ellis and Cianna Gloster -- who combined for 37 points, 12 rebounds, nine steals and five assists on 13-of-22 shooting between them (59.1 percent from the field) -- but the No. 7-seeded Bears, who clawed back from a 16-point deficit to within two possessions on multiple occasions, fell by a 71-66 margin to No. 2-seeded Cumberlands (Ky.) Saturday evening at the O. Wayne Rollins Center in Willliamsburg, Ky.
Game Summary
Throughout the contest, Shawnee State more than proved that it belonged.
While the Bears were outrebounded by a 36-26 margin, Shawnee State's collective work as a unit in guarding and contesting shots, as well as its collective basketball IQ and physicality, bothered Cumberlands (Ky.) at different points throughout the game. Shawnee State shot 44.4 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range -- while holding Cumberlands (Ky.) to 40.7 percent shooting and a 21.1 percent mark from distance defensively.
Shawnee State trailed by 13 points in the third quarter and 16 markers in the fourth frame, but in their true gritty fashion, came back to battle back to within five both in the third quarter as well as at the final gun.
Down 9-4 early on, the Bears rallied to close the Cumberlands (Ky.) lead to 9-8 as Miyoshi Ellis found Cianna Gloster with two excellent feeds that led to easy layups from Gloster on drives and swift passes that led to the conversions. The duo continued to play well off of each other throughout the opening quarter as Shawnee State trailed by a scant 15-12 margin after the first period.
Shawnee State closed to within 17-15 on a Lauren Hawthorne three-point bucket with 9:21 to play in the second quarter, but the Bears had a six minute lapse without a bucket, which allowed Cumberlands to collect a 28-16 lead with 3:43 to play in the first half.
However, Ellis kept Shawnee State right in the hunt.
The junior guard, who has been terrific for much of the season's second half since being inserted into the lineup, took matters into her own hands offensively by scoring 11 of Shawnee State's next 13 points -- helping the Bears cut the 28-16 lead into a 39-29 deficit with 6:16 to go in the third quarter, and setting up one of Shawnee State's best stretches of basketball midway through the third quarter in doing so as her relentless attacking ultimately freed the floor up.
Over the next three minutes of the contest, Jariah Steele scored on a tough conversion, Gloster hit a right side three-point field goal and Hawthorne finished inside on a drive into the left block to help Shawnee State closed to within 41-36 with 3:32 to play in the third quarter.
While Cumberlands rallied with a 10-0 run to end the third frame -- and pushed its lead to as much as 16 in the fourth quarter -- Shawnee State had one more run left in the tank.
Down by a 64-48 margin with 3:28 to play, Ellis and Gloster, true to form, kickstarted the run by scoring each of Shawnee State's first six points in the spurt to immediately draw Shawnee State within 10, 64-54, in less than 75 seconds' time.
The lead then hovered between 10 to 12 points over the next minute and 45 seconds -- but when Emily Maynard pocketed a three-point field goal from the right side, Shawnee State cut Cumberlands' lead to a 68-59 margin -- and proceeded to make the Patriots sweat out each of the game's final 33 seconds.
Between the 33-second mark to 11 seconds left in the game, Steele scored through contact off of a pass by Ellis, and then on the ensuing defensive possession, Ellis stole an inbound pass following a timeout and finished through contact as Shawnee State furiously rallied to within 69-64 on a massive 16-5 push over a three-minute, 17-second span. However, the Bears just ran out of time -- as Shawnee State's valiant effort, which included outscoring Cumberlands (Ky.) 30-20 in the fourth quarter, fell just shy.
Additional
Despite the loss, Shawnee State capped off a terrific season by not only reaching the NAIA Second Round for the first time since 2021, but also posting the program's best record since the 2019-20 season by finishing 28-5 in the 2024-25 campaign.
The Bears, behind fourth-year head coach DeWayne Burroughs and assistant coaches Keisha Anderson, Marnae Holland and Chianne Gloster, went a perfect 22-0 in Quad 2 through Quad 4 games counting its NAIA Opening Round victory over Loyola (La.) Friday evening and finished with a NAIA National Top 25 RPI -- as the group officially helped bring Shawnee State women's basketball back into the national spotlight during the 2024-25 season.
In addition to the above, standout senior forward Cianna Gloster eclipsed the 1,000-point total for her career -- finishing with 1,029 points following the 2024-25 campaign as well as a new school record in single season rebounds with 387. Burroughs was also named as the NAIA National Coach of the Week following the final weekend of the regular season after leading Shawnee State to a perfect 16-0 record in River States Conference action during the regular season.
Throughout the season, Gloster, Miyoshi Ellis, Emily Maynard, Jariah Steele, Sanaya Gregory, Lauren Hawthorne, Jada Johnson, Lexi Deaver, Jonilyah Chambers, Laken Williams, Addison Edmondson, Jaden Tucker, Molly Howard and Bella Thornburg all contributed to Shawnee State's success as the Bears have improved their win total by 24 (four in 2021-22 to 28 in 2024-25) in just four seasons behind the work of the aforementioned players and coaching staff.
