PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Down 14 points with 10 minutes left Emily Fox came off the bench to score 14 points to rally the Lady Tigers, beating No. 12 Shawnee State University, 59-55.

BOX SCORE

With 10:20 left on the clock, Ali Zieverink gave Shawnee its largest lead at 14 points, and it looked like the Lady Bears were going to upset the third-ranked Lady Tigers. But the bench once again stepped up when LTB needed a lift.

"The bench has stepped up when we needed them lately," said CU head coach Ginger Colvin. "I am super proud of Emily and what she came in and did today. We needed a lift and she came up big."

Macie Spence played a career-high 21 minutes and hit a bucket to cut the SSU lead to nine, 48-39, with 7:01 on the clock. Campbellsville forced one of the 11 Lady Bear turnovers and Fox came to the rescue. After checking in at the 8:26 mark, the sophomore from McKinney, Ky., hit her first of three 3s to cut into the Shawnee State lead, 48-42.

Spence finished with seven points and a team-high nine rebounds. Fox and Chelsea Craig each lead CU with 14 points.

SSU came back down and Ashley McMurtrey hit a triple to push the lead back to nine but Daizah Kimberland picked up a Fox miss and hit a layup. That's when the Lady Tigers started to make noise on the defensive side, as Kimberland picked up a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup, 51-46.

Both teams turned the ball over 19 times and Shawnee State had the advantage on the boards, 39-38.

Shawnee State called a timeout with 5:24 left but that couldn't cool Fox's hot hand. She hit her second 3 to cut the lead to 51-49. Two possessions later she knocked down her third 3 with 2:52 left to pull CU within one, 53-52.

LeeAnn Grider, who played all 40 minutes for the first time in her career, saw the shot clock running low and hit a contested up-and-under layup to give the Lady Tigers their first lead since the 1:26 mark in the first half. She finished with six points and a game-high five assists.

Campbellsville went on a 17-5 run capped by the Grider layup to retake the lead.

"LeeAnn was a warrior for us today," said Colvin. "She really controlled our offense in the second half and especially late. She found the hot hand in Emily and kept going to her."

Shawnee State retook the lead with an Erin Dailey jumper, 55-54, but LTB hit the boards on the offensive end. Offensive rebounds, a stat which was much in favor of Shawnee State (19-10), started to go to the Campbellsville bench, and the packed homecoming crowd in packed Frank and Janis Waller was silenced.

SSU had a chance to extend its lead but Abby Feuchter missed the front end of the bonus free throws with 51 seconds left. Fox was fouled when driving to the hoop on the ensuing possession for CU. She missed the first free throw and forced SSU to call a timeout.

Coming out of the 30-second break, Fox stepped to the line and knocked down the freebie to knot the game at 55. Shawnee State came back down with Shavon Robinson's free-throw-line jumper missing, but Zieverink was fould while grabbing her fifth offensive rebound of the game. She missed the front end of the bonus, an eventual self-inflicted dagger for SSU.

The Bears hit only 1-of-11 free throws with Zieverink going 1-of-8 from the stripe. The SSU star led all players with 23 points and finished with nine rebounds.

"Chelsea had to guard Shawnee's best player in Ali Zieverink and really did a good job. She (Zieverink) showed why she is the best offesnive scorer in the conference, but I think she got tired late after beating bodies inside with Chelsea. I cannot say enough about Chelsea and what she has done this season for us."

Fox was fouled rebounding Zieverink's miss and hit both bonus free throws to push Campbellsville ahead, 57-55. SSU had a chance late but Rebecca Bruner stepped over the end line on the ensuing possession. Fox was fouled again and once again hit both free throws to secure the 59-55 win. 

"Emily was unbelievable today," said Colvin. "To come off the bench without a lot of confidence she really showed how deadly she can be from the floor. She got lost in transition a few times and made Shawnee State pay with big shots. And the great thing was she only played 11 minutes. The free throws late were high pressure shots, and she knocked them down when we needed it. I am really proud of her."

Before Fox played hero, the Lady Tigers struggled overall from the floor in the first half, while Shawnee State was hitting on all cylinders.

"We weren't doing a lot of good things early on, and we could not get into our offensive sets," said Colvin. "And you definitely cannot do that against a good team like Shawnee State. If it wasn't for them not hittting their free throws, then that game could have gone the other way very easily. I expect Shawnee State to make a run in the conference and also NAIA tournament."

Campbellsville (20-1, 6-1 MSC) will now be off inside the MSC next week and will travel to Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, Jan. 29. The Lady Tigers will tip at 7 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast live on 88.7 FM The Tiger. Campbellsville defeated Fisk, 96-49, at home Jan. 12.

"This will be a good game for us to get back to what we need to try and work on," said Colvin. "We have put the pedal on cruise control lately and you cannot do that inside the toughest conference in the nation. This week we will watch a lot of film and work on what we need to fix."