RICHMOND, Ky. — A late five-point game turned into a 75-59 win for Eastern Kentucky over the University of Pikeville women’s basketball team on Wednesday in an exhibition at McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels led just 62-57 with 3:57 to play, but the Bears failed to score again until there were 12 seconds left. In-between, EKU went on a 13-0 run to go up 75-57. Jamie Castle knocked down a jumper to end the drought, but it was a sour note to end on during an otherwise stellar performance from the Bears.
Khalilah Quigley and Kelah Eldridge both tallied a game-high 17 points to lead UPIKE as Eldridge poured in five 3-pointers. Courtney Haney pulled down a team-best seven boards and Castle finished with eight points, seven assists, three steals and three rebounds.
Eastern Kentucky had two players in double figures as Jasmine Henshaw tallied 14 points and Shelly Harper chipped in with 13.
Everything went wrong for the Colonels over the first three minutes as a lot went right for the Bears.
With EKU turning the ball over three times to start the game, UPIKE took advantage with threes from Quigley and Eldridge, followed by a 3-point play from Quigley to take a 12-4 lead.
EKU responded with a 16-4 run, taking its first lead of the game at 17-16 on a free throw from Amadi Brooks. The lead swelled to 22-16 on a layup by Henshaw before Eldridge finally ended the 18-4 run with her second three of the half.
The Colonels posted another quick 4-0 spurt to take their biggest lead yet at 26-19, but the Bears came right back with a jumper from Eldridge and Castle followed with a steal and bucket near the foul line to cut the deficit to three with 7:02 left before halftime.
At the end of the first 20 minutes, the Bears were down by just two points at 33-31 as Eldridge added another three in the final minute.
UPIKE had its good fortune start to fade when the game was tied at 47 when the Colonels got a three and 3-point play back-to-back to take a six-point lead with 9:11 on the clock.
Down by seven, UPIKE got a much needed and-one play from Erin Swatzel to cut the EKU lead to four at 55-51 with just over seven minutes left. It felt like the Bears were ready to stick around the rest of the way when two free throws from Shekinah Gibson made it a 58-53 Colonel lead.
But once Eldridge’s three dropped to make it 62-57, EKU turned up the heat and didn’t allow another point for over three minutes. The Bears tried to press to change the momentum, but it led to a few easy buckets as Eastern Kentucky led by as many as 16 points.
UPIKE shot just 30.6 percent from the field, compared to 50.8 percent by the Colonels, but it did hit seven threes, compared to three by EKU. Rebounds went in favor of the Colonels 46-34, as well as points in the paint 52-16.
It’s short rest for the Bears as they take on Kentucky at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday at Memorial Coliseum.
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