TUSKEGEE, Ala. -- Miles drowned in a sea of turnovers and missed shots, falling to Tuskegee 72-35 Monday night in a battle of the top two teams in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Western Division teams. The defeat was the Lady Bears most lopsided since a 56-point shellacking at Nova Southeastern in December 2015, a span of 168 games.

Miles (12-4, 6-4 SIAC West) had a small lead lead at the start but fell behind early. But trailing by just six points after the first period, things got decidedly worse for the Lady Bears. Tuskegee took advantage for 13 Miles turnovers in the second quarter and scored 12 points from them. Even more, the Lady Bears missed 12-of-14 shots from the field, as well as both free throws, and were outscored 18-4 during the stanza as the Golden Tigerettes led 37-13 at the half.

The turnovers continued to come in the third quarter as Miles gave up the ball 13 more times which led to 14 Tuskegee points. For the game, the Lady Bears turned it over a season-high 39 times. The miscues were compounded by a tough shooting night with Miles connecting on less than 28 percent of their shots from the field and a dismal 6-of-16 from the charity stripe. Tuskegee led by as many as 44 points late in the contest before the Lady Bears scored the final seven poitns of the game, getting four of those points from Shamaria Gaines and the team's only 3-pointer of the night (in eight tries) from Imani Williams.

Ashiala Jackson had with 20 points and 10 rebounds and JuToreyia Willis added 18 points and seven steals for Tuskegee. Williams had nine points, six rebounds and three assists, Gaines added eight points, and Deresia Randle added two points and a team-high nine rebounds for the Lady Bears, who travel to play Lane on Jan. 31. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.