(LEBANON, Ill., January 13)- The McKendree University women's basketball team dropped a American Midwest Conference matchup to No. 25 Columbia College, 75-59, on Thursday night at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.

The Bearcats fell to 5-11 overall (1-2 AMC) will travel to St. Louis, Mo., on January 15 to face Missouri Baptist University at 2 p.m.

Freshman guard Brittany Willis (St. Louis, Mo., Parkway South) had two career-highs with 18 points and seven rebounds to lead McKendree. Sophomore forward Courtney Harris (St. Louis, Mo., St. Joseph Academy) also had 13 points in the loss.

The Bearcats made the first two buckets of the game to take a 4-0 lead, but the Cougars went on an 8-0 run behind two three-pointers and a jumper by Ashley Fisher to take an 8-4 lead. Columbia led by as many as six in the first five minutes of the contest, but McKendree bounced back with an 8-0 run to take a 21-18 lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the half. The Cougars took back the lead with just over five minutes left in the half and outscored the Bearcats 16-2 the rest of the half to lead 44-28 at the break.

Columbia kept its double-digit lead and led by as many as 27 in the second half to deal McKendree its second conference loss of the season.

Fisher led the Cougars with 18 points, while Amanda Phillips and Janita Session both contributed 12 points.