(LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 6) – The No. 16 McKendree University women's basketball team bounced back from a loss on Thursday with a 80-52 win over Hannibal-LaGrange College on Saturday at the Melvin Price Convocation Center. The Bearcats never trailed in the contest.
McKendree, now 18-5 overall (8-2 AMC), will host No. 10 Columbia College on February 11 at 5:30 p.m.
Senior guard Haley Klingelhoefer (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) led all players with 17 points and junior guard Ashley Agee (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) scored 16 points. In the win, Agee moved into sole possession of 10th place on McKendree's all-time scoring list with 1,101 career points. She currently sits 48 points behind current assistant coach Stephanie Sparks' ninth place career total of 1,149 points.
Leading 6-4 early in the first half, the Bearcats used their speed to their advantage and shot out to a 12-4 lead on layups in transition. A three-pointer by freshman guard Meghan O'Connell (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) with 10:50 left in the first half gave McKendree a 22-11 lead for it first double-digit lead of the day. The Bearcats scored 12 points off nine Trojan turnovers in the first half and held a 36-23 advantage at the half.
Hannibal-LaGrange went on a seven point run early in the second half to cut the deficit to 40-33, but the Bearcats countered with an eight point run of their own to lead 48-33 with 13 minutes remaining in the game. A layup by junior guard Katie Fullerton (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) (Coulterville, Ill./Marissa) gave McKendree a 64-44 edge with six minutes left in the game and the Bearcats never led by less than 20 points down the stretch to earn the victory.
Kelsey Anderson scored 14 points in the loss for Hannibal-LaGrange. Kayla Hruby and Sindy Chavez also had 13 points and 10 points, respectively.
-McK-
