With less than two minutes left in the first quarter, Southwestern coach Noah Stuckey looked up at the scoreboard and saw Shelbyville was ahead 15-11.
By the time the buzzer sounded to end the quarter, the Golden Bears were on top 24-11.
The 9-0 run made the difference as Shelbyville won 52-33.
"That's because of them (Shelbyville)," Stuckey said of the end of the quarter. "They pushed it hard. They got into their transition quickly and got to the corner and hit some threes. Impressive. We haven't faced a team like that this year where they just come down the floor and pull up."
Senior Abby Smith scored on a putback with 50 seconds remaining for a 17-11 lead. Twenty seconds later, senior Morgan Parker knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner, was fouled and made the free throw.
Now, what was a two-point lead earlier in the quarter had stretched to 10, and the Golden Bears had one more big shot ahead.
Southwestern junior Emma Abel missed a jumper and Shelbyville junior Alexis Tackett drilled a three as time expired for a 24-11 lead.
"I think we just did a nice job running our offense, looking for our shooters," Shelbyville coach Jason West said. "The kids battled. Morgan got hot. They found her a couple times. She hit baskets. Most importantly, we continued to play both ends of the floor and really just continued to compete. Timely shots, really. Timely shots allowed us to do that."
Tackett and Parker contributed 23 of the Golden Bears' 34 points in the first half. The junior shot 3-for-5 from the field and made 4-of-7 free throws while Parker made two of her four 3-point attempts and was 4-for-5 at the line.
As a team, Shelbyville shot 65 percent at the line in the half.
It was a far different half for the Spartans.
Fresh off a five-game winning streak to open the season, Southwestern was able to get to the line often.
"Our goal was always to attack the basket and it was working," Stuckey said. "We were getting to the free-throw line. They were fouling us. Our goal was always to attack."
Southwestern (5-1) just couldn't convert on those trips, shooting 5-for-18 in the half and 11-for-32 in the game.
Shelbyville (3-1) maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game, ahead by at least 12 and as many as 22.
The offense flexed its muscles again in the third quarter, putting 16 on the board. The Golden Bears pushed the ball up the court, using its transition game to create opportunities.
"I just thought in games we've been better when we play fast sometimes and just wanted to get up and down as we went," West said. "Thought we made some good decisions. Problem was we got into some foul trouble and that limited us in what we wanted to do. Overall, heck of an effort from my girls."
The Golden Bears finished with 24 fouls in the game and turned the ball over 16 times. The Spartans committed 21 fouls and turned the ball over 17 times.
Shelbyville won the junior varsity game 48-37.
Alexis Wilson led the Golden Bears with 13 points. Danielle Phillips finished with 12 for the Spartans.
