(LEBANON, Ill., Jan. 25)—The McKendree University women's basketball team battled visiting William Jewell College to the wire on Thursday before the Cardinals pulled out a 68-63 triumph in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center.
Freshman guard Sydney Diekhoff poured in a season-high 23 points and matched a season-best with five three-point field goals in Thursday's contest. The Bearcats are now 8-8 overall and 4-5 in GLVC action. McKendree will host the University of Southern Indiana in the finale of a three-game home stand Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Sophomore guard Jordan Heberg scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half for McKendree, while sophomore guard Madison Hart helped out with 13 points and seven rebounds. Hart was 11-of-14 from the free throw line against William Jewell. Junior forward Jordan Morton hauled in a game-high 10 rebounds for the Bearcats, who held a 34-20 edge on the glass in Thursday's contest.
William Jewell (9-8, 6-4 GLVC) held McKendree without a field goal for almost five minutes to open the contest on a 12-1 run. Diekhoff came off the bench to score eight of the final 10 points of the opening quarter for the Bearcats, who were able to pull within 22-15 after 10 minutes of play. The Cardinals, who shot 71.4 percent in the first quarter, stretched its margin to 33-20 with 3:44 remaining in the half before McKendree was able to claw its way back into contention and trailed 36-27 at the intermission.
In the third quarter, William Jewell was able to maintain a double-digit lead, pushing its advantage to 47-31 with 3:17 left in the period. At that point, McKendree shut down the Cardinals defensive and scored the final 12 points of the quarter to slash the deficit to 47-43 with 10 minutes to play. Hart scored the first three points of the run from the foul line before Diekhoff again took control, netting six points over the final 2:19 of the quarter.
The Cardinals never lost the lead in the fourth quarter, although McKendree was able to get as close as 58-56 following a three-pointer by freshman guard Callie Pohlman with 2:18 remaining. William Jewell scored the next five points to push its margin back to seven points and managed to go 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the last 1:57 to hold off the Bearcats' final charge.
Lindsey McCoy led William Jewell with 22 points, while Kayla Harrell added 17 points in the contest. Rhyann Fisher dished out a game-high six assists for the Cardinals, who had assists on all but two of their 21 field goals against McKendree.
