CRESTVIEW HILLS – It was about as rough of a day at work as possible for UPIKE on Wednesday as the Bears lost to Thomas More, 70-37.
UPIKE shot a season worst 21.7 percent from the floor in the loss, including the Bears three leading scorers — Mary Englert, Emily Baker and Kayla Mullins — going a combined 6-33. To make matters worse, the Bears hit just one 3-pointer in 26 attempts.
Pikeville can take solace in that its defense did a decent job against the No. 2 ranked team in NCAA Division III, especially in the second half, when it held the Saints to 35.7 percent shooting.
Thomas More pulled away early with a 9-2 run that gave the Saints a nine-point lead. From there, the lead would never go back into single digits thanks to the Bears offensive struggles.
One of the few bright spots for the Bears was Sierra Feltner, who relatively stuffed the stat sheet off the bench. She scored six points, with three steals and two assists.
Despite the tough luck shooting, Englert and Baker both almost earned double-doubles. Englert scored eight points and had nine rebounds, while Baker also scored eight and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Bears won’t have to wait terribly long to try to return the favor though, as Thomas More joins the Mid-South Conference in the 2019-2020 academic year. Pikeville will enter conference play with an 11-5 record.
UP NEXT
UPIKE now begins the MSC slate, beginning with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee on the road at No. 8 Shawnee State.