(LEBANON, Ill., – Feb. 17) – McKendree University senior guard Kelsey Park (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) tied a school record with eight steals in a 61-47 upset of No. 14 Columbia College Tuesday night.

McKendree improved to 15-9 overall (7-5 AMC) and Columbia fell to 24-3 overall (11-2 AMC). The Bearcats travel to Williams Baptist Thursday for an American Midwest Conference contest at 5:30 p.m.

Park (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) led all players with 14 points in the contest to go with her eight steals. Sophomore guard Ashley Agee (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) had 12 points and sophomore guard Katie Fullerton (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) had 10 points and eight rebounds. Rachel Oswald led Columbia with 14 points and Brittany Taylor had 11 in the loss.

After trailing by four early in the contest, McKendree stepped up and built a four point lead of their own on a jumper by freshman forward Ashley Dressler (Columbia, Mo./Rockbridge) (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge) at the 8:28 mark. Dressler pushed the Bearcats a 23-16 lead after making a three pointer a minute later. Two free throws by Park gave McKendree a nine point lead with 5:31 left in the first half. Columbia would make two transition layups in the final minute of play to cut the score to 31-25 at halftime. The second half would be all Bearcats, slowing building a double digit lead with eight minutes to play. Columbia cut the deficit to nine points, 47-38, with 6:39 remaining, but that was as close as the Cougars would come as two more free throws from Park regained the double digit lead with six minutes to go. The Bearcats led by 16 three times in the final two minutes and won the contest 61-47.

McKendree forced the Cougars into 24 turnovers in the contest and held Columbia to 31-percent shooting from the field.

-McK-