KINGSPORT, Tenn.— Montreat's women's basketball team continued its season with a playoff matchup against the University of Pikeville Bears in the WinWon Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Women's Basketball Tournament Thursday morning. The lone contest between the two schools in the regular season resulted in a 70-54 Pikeville win. The Cavs stayed winless against the Bears this season as Montreat was knocked out of the tournament by a score of 89-73.
 
The Cavaliers started with some energy in the early affair. Montreat led the Bears in the first by a score of 11-6. Virginia Edmondson and Tresalyn Roberts started the scoring for the Cavs. A 3-pointer from Katie Alexander also helped Montreat edge in front of Pikeville in the early going. UPIKE (19-8, 17-5 AAC) answered with a 7-0 run to take the lead. The rest of the frame, the Bears had the momentum. After tying the Cavs at 18, Pikeville went on a 14-0 run to complete the quarter. Although they trailed 32-18, Edmondson led Montreat with six points at the end of the period.
 
The Bears continued their hot shooting and maintaining their lead in the second frame. Both teams scored 20 points in the period, but Montreat could not find an advantage. At the half, the Bears led the Cavs, 52-38.
 
With their work cut out in the second half, the Cavs slowly sliced into the Bears' lead. Montreat slashed the advantage to just 10 points toward the end of the quarter. Edmondson took over the frame, scoring 13 points by herself. At the end of three periods, the Cavs still trailed by 11 (70-59).
 
In the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers' comeback attempt lost its steam. Pikeville outscored the Cavs by four in the frame, and Montreat ran out of time to make up for lost ground. Edmondson and Roberts combined for 13 of the 14 points scored in the quarter by the Cavaliers.
 
Individually for Montreat, Edmondson left it all on the court in her effort. She scored 33 points in her final game in a Montreat uniform. Behind her, Roberts had 11 points and Alexander had 10. Alexander also had 10 assists in her performance, her seventh game of the season with double-digit helpers. Edmondson totaled the most rebounds in the contest with eight, and she lived up to her AAC Defensive Player of the Year award by leading Montreat with three steals.
 
In the loss, the Cavs shot 41.0 percent from the floor, hitting 25 of their 61 attempts. Montreat made eight triples, five of which came from Edmondson. The downtown shooting mark was good enough for 33.3 percent. From the foul line, the Cavaliers knocked down 15 free throws out of 22 attempts for 68.2 percent. The Cavs tied the Bears in rebounds (38-38) and had one less assist (20-19) than UPIKE. Pikeville had more steals (8-7) and blocks (11-0) in the playoff matchup while committing fewer turnovers (18-11) as well.
 
After the playoff defeat, the Cavaliers concluded their 2024-25 campaign with a 17-12 (14-8 AAC) record, one game better than last season's 16-13 record.