Box Score (OWENSBORO, Ky., Dec. 15)- The McKendree University women's basketball team lost, 77-59, to Kentucky Wesleyan College on Thursday night in Owensboro, Ky.

The Bearcats dropped to 6-8 overall and will travel to Springfield, Ill., on December 30th to play University of Illinois-Springfield at 5:30 p.m.

Freshman guard Caty Ponce (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) led all players with 16 points, while junior forward Courtney Harris (Wildwood, Mo./St. Joseph Academy) and redshirt senior Ashley Dressler (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge) contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.

With the game knotted up 11-11 after five minutes of play, the Cougars scored layups on consecutive possessions to take a four-point lead. Redshirt junior forward Emily Woodland (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) answered with a jumper to bring McKendree back within two, 15-13, only for the Cougars to outscore the Bearcats 11-1 over the next four minutes to jump out to a 26-14 lead with 8:37 left in the period. Kentucky Wesleyan led by as many as 14, 32-18, with 4:35 left, but McKendree rattled off six-straight to cut the deficit to 32-24 with 3:18 left in the half. A layup by Dressler with 19-seconds left in the half brought the Bearcats within five, 36-31, but Kristen Rowe hit a three-pointer with two ticks left in the half to give Kentucky Wesleyan a 39-31 lead at the break.

A layup by Harris at the 15:16 mark of the second half brought McKendree within nine, 45-36, but Kentucky Wesleyan steadily pulled away in the second half after shooting 54.2-percent from the field and going 9-of-10 from the free throw line.

Karly Rhoads led the Cougars with 15 points, while Katie Behrens scored 12 points to round out their double-digit scoring.