(Lebanon, Ill., Jan. 26) --The McKendree University women's basketball team fell to Lewis University Thursday evening in Romeoville, IL in a Great Lakes Valley Conference clash. The Bearcats dropped the contest by a score of 65-50.

The loss sinks McKendree to 10-9 overall and 1-8 in the GLVC this season. The Bearcats return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. against the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, WI.

McKendree had nine different players contribute points and was led offensively by senior guard Amber Alexander (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North) who was the only Bearcat to reach double figures with 12 points along with four rebounds and two assists. Freshman guard Jordan Heberg (Romeoville, IL/Plainfield North) tallied nine points with a pair of steals and assists. Sophomore forward Jordan Morton (Olathe, Kan./Olathe South) added four points and a game high 10 boards and freshman forward Megan Jensen (Union, MO/Saint Francis Borgia Regional ) added seven points for McKendree.

Alexander opened the scoring just thirty seconds into the game after landing from long range before following up with a second trey to give the Bearcats a 6-0 lead out of the gate. The Flyers countered with a 12-3 run to close the quarter after outscoring McKendree 6-0 in the paint and capitalizing with three second chance points and four points off of turnovers.

Lewis moved ahead 16-11 to start the second quarter before the Bearcats were able to cut into the lead with an and-one from Jensen to pull within two. The Flyers moved back in front by five with 3:09 to play in the half, before pair of free throws from senior forward Ellie Pusheck (South Milwaukee, Wis./South Milwaukee) brought it to a one possession game. A layup from Lewis put the Flyers ahead by seven points with under a minute to play, but Alexander's third three of the game cut the lead to four with five seconds remaining as Lewis took a 25-21 lead into intermission.

Back to back baskets from Morton and Eillie Pusheck brought Mckendree within two points before the Bearcats surrendered a three point play as Lewis regained control at 30-25. Alexander splashed from deep once again at the 7:23 mark to slash the lead back to two, but the Flyers rallied with a 9-0 run to open up an elven point advantage with just under three minutes to go in the third. The Bearcats responded with a 6-2 spree over the final minutes of the third including a pair of layup's from Jensen as McKendree cut the deficit to seven heading into the final ten minutes of play.

Lewis bolted out to a 19 point lead after using a 14-0 run to open the fourth quarter that spanned over five minutes of game action. The Flyers extended that lead to 21 points with just over three minutes to play and McKendree couldn't make up the ground down the stretch as the Bearcats fell by 15.