FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Monday night's Miles-Kentucky State women's basketball tilt featured the two best teams in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference who were putting their unblemished league records on the line. It also featured the top two scorers in the SIAC - KSU's Gracen Kerr and the Lady Bears' Iemyiah Harris.

Both teams and players put on a show at the Exum Center but it was Lady Bears forward Madison Lee that made a big difference in the outcome. The sophomore outscored the entire Kentucky State team in the second quarter en route to a career-high 21 points as No. 23 Miles (14-1, 10-0 SIAC West) won their 14th consecutive game with a 70-61 win over the Thorobrettes (13-3, 9-1).

Like most championship-level fights, the combatants spent the early portion of the game feeling each other out. There were five lead changes and a tie in the opening quarter. India Brown and Tederia Ashley (eight points, seven rebounds) scored back-to-back buckets in the lane late in the period to give Miles a lead it would not relinquish. But a late basket kept KSU within 13-12 at the end of the first quarter.

That's when Lee went to work.

She missed her first shot attempt but made up for it with a block on the other end. When Miles got the ball on offense, Lee drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead. A minute later, she was fouled on a 3-point attempt and knocked down two of the freebies. Another minute later, she drained a second 3-ball that pushed the Lady Bears advantage into double digits and followed with a layup on the ensuing possession to give Miles a 28-15 lead with 6:22 remaining before halftime.

The Lady Bears were finding their offensive fortune from their defensive work that forced multiple Kentucky State miscues. In the second quarter alone, KSU turned that ball over seven times, which Miles converted into 12 points. The last two came on another Lee bucket with less than a minute to go in the period. When the horn sounded at halftime, Lee had scored 12 of her team's 19 points in the quarter while Kentucky State had only 11. The Lady Bears led 32-23 at the break.

The Miles defense continued to churn in the third. After the Thorobrettes cut the deficit to five points early in the quarter, the Lady Bears responded with a 9-1 run. Iemyiah Harris got a steal and fed it to Imani Williams for a breakaway layup. On the ensuing possession, it was Nuriyah Slaton (season-high 10 rebounds, three steals) with the gaffle that led to another 3-ball from Lee, who also had six rebounds, two blocks and a steal, that helped Miles open a 43-30 lead. For the game, Miles scored 25 points off of 22 KSU turnovers.

Kentucky State continued to battle, cutting the deficit to six points less than two minutes into the fourth. But Miles used a backbreaking run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to put the game out of reach. During that span, KSU missed its four shots from the field while Miles went on a 15-3 jaunt. Asha Shareef (six points) had two buckets, Harris added two more, and Kiyara Howard-Garza (six points) had three baskets of her own - including the first and last buckets of the run - to give the Lady Bears their biggest lead, 62-44, with 4:42 remaining. Kentucky State got to within five points inside the last 90 seconds, but Brown, Harris, and Lee each drained two free throws over the final 30 seconds to secure the victory.

Kerr scored 15 points and Taleah Dilworth added 13 to pace Kentucky State. Harris had 20 points, five assists and four steals and Williams added four points, a game-high 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals for Miles, which hosts Tuskegee on Saturday, Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.