(COLUMBIA, Mo., Jan. 20)—The McKendree University Bearcats women's basketball team led the No. 10 Columbia Cougars early in Tuesday night's American Midwest Conference matchup, but poor shooting dealt the Bearcats their third AMC loss this season, 59-45.

Sophomore guard Ashley Agee (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) led McKendree with 11 points, while senior forward Emily Best (Wood River, Ill./East Alton-Wood River) (Wood River, Ill./East Alton-Wood River) and junior guard Haley Klingelhoefer (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) both had eight points. Columbia's Rachel Oswald led all players with 21 points and Whitney Widaman had 14 points.

After trailing 3-2 after two minutes of play, the Bearcats outscored Columbia 14-6 over the next six minutes to lead 16-9 with 12 minutes to play in the first half. Columbia took over from that point and went on a 9-0 run to take an 18-16 lead. A bucket by sophomore guard Katie Fullerton (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) tied the game with nine minutes remaining in the first half, but the Cougars went on a 13 point run and led 31-18 with 4:41 left in the half. A jumper by freshman forward Emily Woodland (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) cut the Bearcats deficit to 31-20, which they took into halftime.

The Bearcats trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half and the deficit proved to be too much for McKendree to overcome, dropping their record to 9-7 overall (1-3 AMC). Columbia improved to 18-1 overall (4-0 AMC). McKendree shot 32.7 percent from the field in the contest, while Columbia shot an even 50 percent from the field.

The Bearcats return to the court Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to host Williams Baptist College in an AMC contest.

-McK-