(LEBANON, Ill., – Feb. 7) – The McKendree University women's basketball team dropped their second consecutive American Midwest Conference game Saturday to Missouri Baptist University 81-73. It was only the Bearcats second home loss in their past 25 home contests.
The loss drops the Bearcats to 13-9 overall (5-5 AMC), while the Spartans improved to 13-8 overall (6-4 AMC). McKendree will host Columbia College Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Senior guard Kelsey Park (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) led the Bearcats with 15 points on 7-12 shooting from the floor. Park also had three steals in the game, giving her 82 for the season which is third all-time in a single season at McKendree. Junior guard Haley Klingelhoefer (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) had 14 points and five steals, while junior Katie Fullerton (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) and sophomore Ashley Agee (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) both scored 13 points. Senior forward Emily Best (Wood River, Ill./East Alton-Wood River) (Wood River, Ill./East Alton-Wood River) had 12 points and a team high seven rebounds. Andrea Seabaugh for Missouri Baptist led all players with 19 points.
The game started off as a back and forth affair and a jumper by Amanda Schuring (Gilberts, Ill./H.D. Jacobs) (Gilberts, Ill./H.D. Jacobs) gave McKendree a 11-6 lead after seven minutes of play. Three 3-pointers by the Spartans over the next two minutes put Missouri Baptist up by two with a 15-13 lead with 9:45 left to play in the first half. The visitors continued their hot shooting through the first half and led 39-20 at the break.
Missouri Baptist led by as many as 15 in the second half, but with 5:28 remaining and trailing 61-48 the Bearcats came alive. Klingelhoefer, Agee, and Park combined for seven points in a minute to cut the deficit to six. McKendree was forced to foul down the stretch and trailed by only five on three separate occasions over the next minute and a half of play. The Spartans made 14 free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 81-73 win.
Both teams shot over 80-percent from the free throw line and Missouri Baptist shot 43.6 percent from the field to the Bearcats 37.5 percent. The Spartans also shot 45 percent from beyond the arc to McKendree's 33.3 percent.
-McK-
