SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- With a fine second-half effort and yet without the benefit of a field goal in the final 4:46, Notre Dame shocked No. 4 Shawnee State, 77-75, on Thursday night at Murphy Gymnasium. (Box)

For Notre Dame (8-6, 4-2 American Mideast), the win over the AMC-powerhouse Bears marks the program's first win over an NAIA Top-10 team.

With the loss, Shawnee State (12-3, 4-1) dropped their first AMC game in the last two seasons. The Bears went 15-0 in-circuit last season en route to a 29-0 regular season mark (31-1 overall). Prior to Thursday night's game, SSU had won nine of its last 10.

“This was just a sensational win for us tonight,” said Head Coach #Dick Deasy#, who earned his 140th victory at NDC. “Shawnee State has a real nice club. Everyone has figured all season that they're the class of the league. For the way we had been playing over the last month, this is just a very special night for us.”

#Kealy McNally# tallied a season-high 20 points in the win. #Chelsea Andorka# added 18 and #Yvette Hunter# chipped in 15.

In the opening half, Shawnee State opened up a 12-7 lead over the 5:19 of play. NDC then went on a 13-8 run over the next six minutes. Despite SSU finding success from beyond the arc and the host Falcons struggling with their shooting, Notre Dame held a 20-17 lead at 8:53.

The Falcons maintained a 23-21 lead at 7:33, but from that point through the end of the period, the Bears outscored Notre Dame, 20-11. In the first 20 minutes, Shawnee State was 16-of-32 (50.0 percent) from the field and 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc. Forward Alison Meyer (14 points) and guard Whitney Williams (12) combined to score 26 points for the Bears in the first.

The Falcons came out strong in the second, hitting four of their first six attempts from the floor while outscoring SSU, 10-4. A Chelsea Andorka three-ball at 16:25 gave the Falcons a 49-47 lead. Less than a minute later, Kealy McNally connected on an off-balance lay-up to put Notre Dame up by six (53-47).

Both teams then clamped down defensively and neither was able to maintain an offensive rhythm for about 10 minutes of game-play. An #Alex Dackin# trey at 7:32 gave NDC a boost, however. Dackin's shot gave NDC a 10-point lead (69-59).

Dackin would hit another trey at 4:46 which proved to be NDC's final field goal of the game. She finished with 10 points.

By the 4:15-mark Shawnee State whittled the NDC advantage down to three points (76-73). With one minute remaining and despite not scoring a point for over four minutes, the Falcons still clung to their lead, up 76-75.

NDC prevailed in a frantic final minute that included a Lauren Macer free throw, one Shawnee miss from close range and another attempt that was blocked at the buzzer.

The Falcons' second-half comeback was made possible by Notre Dame shooting 55.6 percent (15-for-27 from the floor. For the 40 minutes, NDC outrebounded SSU, 39-31; McNally paced the Falcons, with eight boards. #Paris Pugliese# had a game-high six assists; Andorka had five.

Alison Meyer finished with 23 points to lead the Bears. Shawnee only made one second-half trey compared to the five they drilled in the first frame.

For Notre Dame the game marked the third of 13 straight AMC tilts. With Thursday's result, NDC is now 6-10 over their last 16 conference games, going back to last season.

The Falcons will look to build on their upset when they visit Point Park (Pa.) on Saturday. Tip-off against the Pioneers is slated for 2 p.m.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

RANK REPORT: Prior to Thursday's win, Notre Dame's all-time record against Top-10 teams was 0-5. … The win came over a Shawnee State team which came into the game 72-14 over its previous 86 games.

COSTLY MISSES: Shawnee State came into Thursday's contest as the No. 1 free-throw shooting team in the nation, with an 83.4 percent mark from the line. On Thursday against the Falcons, the Bears connected on 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) from the line.

DEASY BAGS BEAR FOR WIN NO. 140: With the upset win over No. 4 SSU, Dick Deasy claims win No. 140 in his illustrious NDC career. The Falcons' bench boss is now 140-63 (.690) in is tenure on College Road.