SSU Sports Information

The SSU women blew away West Virginia Tech with five players scoring in double figures.

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SSU Sports Information

In a non-conference matchup between the Shawnee State Bears (15-4, 5-2) and the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears (6-14), the Bears prevailed 91-58 despite not having leading scorer Alannah Sheets.

In the first half, Shawnee State got out to a fast start and never looked back. Schera Sampson, who made her home debut, scored or assisted on the Bears first 10 if its 12 points. The Bears seemed to build on that and jumped out to a quick 22-4 lead using hot shooting and equal scoring throughout the team.

Abby Ballman hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend Shawnee State’s lead to 21. As the lead grew to 25, The Bears were able to play everyone at least four minutes in the first half. Out of the 11 players, 10 scored as Alex Pohl led all scorers with nine points. Shawnee State shot 51 percent from the floor as the Bears were able to get easy shots in the paint.

Shawnee State outscored the Golden Bears 22-2 in the paint in the first half. The Bears also made 5-12 from beyond the arc in the half while holding West Virginia Tech to 32 percent shooting and forced 10 turnovers. Shawnee State headed into halftime with a lead of 47-27.

In the second half the Bears did not let up, jumping out to a 60-33 lead. West Virginia answered with a 6-0 run of their own before a Catrice Mitchell layup ended the Golden Bears run. However, West Virginia Tech kept attacking and cut the lead to 17, the closest they had been since the 8:48 mark in the first half.

A pair of 3-pointers from Rachel Young however, pushed the lead to 30. Next possession down, a layup from Tabby McKinney gave the Bears a lead of 32 ending little hopes of a comeback from the Golden Bears.

The Bears had five players score in double figures as everyone on Shawnee State scored at least two points. Sampson and Pohl lead the way for Shawnee State with 16 points each as Ballman chipped in with 12 points, six assists and five rebounds. Mitchell and Young came off the bench and scored 12 points and 11 points respectively.

For the game, Shawnee State shot 50 percent from the field while holding West Virginia Tech to a dismal 32 percent. The Bears went 8-21 from beyond the arc while the Golden Bears went 7-31. Both teams made 15 free-throws.

The 12th ranked Bears will be in action tonight against the University of Rio Grande. The game will be pinked out and free shirts will be given to the first 1,000 fans.

Bears can’t overcome slow start lose 76-67

Despite a career-high from Jeremy Bennington, the Shawnee State Bears (7-11, 2-5) could not overcome a cold shooting performance as they ended up losing 76-67 against West Virginia Tech (13-5) in a non-conference affair.

The ball just would not fall for Shawnee State as they shot just 26 percent in the first half against West Virginia Tech. A 3-pointer from Mark Bryant at the 18:14 gave the Bears their first basket. However, after a six-minute scoring drought SSU found themselves down 14-9 until a jumper from Jarred Quinlan ended the scoreless silence.

Jeremy Bennington got Shawnee State within four with a jumper at the top of the key to get the score to 16-12, but the Golden Bears went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to nine. Two 3-pointers in a span of 2:29 from Bennington kept the Bears within striking distance.

Despite shooting just 26 percent in the first half, the Bears made 13 of 18 free throws and held West Virginia Tech to 41 percent shooting. However, the Bears got outscored 20-8 in the paint and the Golden Bears scored 11 points off of eight Shawnee State turnovers. The Bears found themselves down 40-30 at the half.

Up 10, West Virginia started the second half off with a 3-pointer from Rashon Tabb, quickly extending the Golden Bears lead to 13. Shawnee State found themselves down by double digits until the 8:12 mark remaining when a layup from Bennington got the Bears within nine at 48-57. After a steal from Ian Nixson and two free throws from Bryant, Shawnee State got within seven. It was the closest Shawnee State been since 2:39 mark in the first half.

A quick 7-0 run from West Virginia Tech however put the Bears back down by 14 and another uphill climb was needed. A pull-up 3-pointer from Nixson and the next possession down a tip-in from Andrew Devlin got Shawnee State within eight with 2:21 remaining in the game. The closest the Bears could get was seven after a 3-pointer from Tyler Boyles to make the game 61-68 with 1:23.

Bennington scored 20 points in 27 minutes of action while Bryant added 20 points himself and pulled down 11 rebounds. Boyles chipped in with nine points and two assists while nine Bears scored in the contest.

For the game, Shawnee State shot 33 percent while West Virginia Tech shot 28-65 from the field. The Bears shot 6-25 from beyond the arc while the Golden Bears shot 25 percent. Shawnee State outscored West Virginia Tech at the free throw line making 21-28 compared to 15-24 for the Golden Bears.

Shawnee State will play tonight as they will take on rival, University of Rio Grande. The game will be a “Pink out” and the first 1,000 fans will receive free shirts.