(LEBANON, Ill., – Jan. 31) – The McKendree University women's basketball team won their fourth straight game Saturday in a 69-49 American Midwest Conference win over the University of Illinois at Springfield.
The Bearcats improved to 13-7 overall (5-3 AMC) while the Prairie Stars fell to 3-17 (1-7 AMC). McKendree starts the second half of their AMC schedule February 5th at league leading William Woods University at 5:30 p.m.
Sophomore guard Ashley Agee (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) (Moberly, Mo./Moberly)led all scorers with 21 points on 8-11 shooting from the field, including three 3-pointers. Senior forward Emily Best (Wood River, Ill./East Alton-Wood River) (Wood River, Ill./East Alton-Wood River) scored 11 points and sophomore guard Katie Fullerton (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) (Coulterville, Ill./Couulterville) had eight points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
The Prairie Stars led eight with 8:36 remaining in the first half, only for the Bearcats to go on a 14-0 run to over the next four minutes to take a 22-16 lead on a 3-pointer by junior forward Amanda Schuring (Gilberts, Ill./H.D. Jacobs) (Gilberts, Ill./H.D. Jacobs). McKendree held on the remainder of the first half and led 30-22 at the break.
It took both teams just under five minutes at the start of the second half to score with the Prairie Stars' Shana Stein scoring the first bucket of the half, before a three from Agee gave McKendree a 33-24 lead with 16 minutes remaining. McKendree led by as many as 21 in the second half after a free throw by Fullerton made the score 60-39 lead with four minutes to play. The Prairie Stars outscored the Bearcats 10-9 over the final four minutes but it wouldn't be enough, as McKendree came away with the 69-49 win.
Neither team shot well in the contest, with McKendree shooting 35.4 percent from the field compared to Illinois-Springfield's 20.9 percent. The Bearcats were 40 percent from behind the arc to the Prairie Stars' 15.8 percent and McKendree also held a 77.3 percent to 66.7 percent advantage from the free throw line.
-McK-
