LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University women's basketball opened its 2021-22 season here Friday afternoon as the Bearcats were held to 15 second half points in a 64-40 setback to Tiffin University in the first game of the Midwest Region Crossover at the Melvin Price Convocation Center on the McKendree campus.
 
The 40 points were the fewest scored by the Bearcats in a game since tallying 45 points in a 56-45 loss to the University of Indianapolis on Jan. 11, 2020. In addition, the Bearcats have now lost two straight season openers as they fell 70-61 in last season's opener against Rockhurst.
 
Sophomore Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) led the way for the Bearcats with 14 points and added seven rebounds, while the only other Bearcat to tally double figures was redshirt junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) added 10 points. McKendree shot just 33 percent (14-for-43) from the field for the game. The Bearcats were just 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) from the field in the second half.
 
Fortune went 5-for-11 from the field, including a 2-for-6 effort from the 3-point line and was 2-for-3 at the free throw line, but the rest of the Bearcats went just 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) from the field for the game.
 
Tiffin didn't shoot much better from the floor as they finished the game shooting 39.7 percent from the field, including a 5-for-15 (33.3 percent) effort from the 3-point line, but did manage to shoot 43 percent (12-for-28) from the field in the second half as they outscored the Bearcats, 33-15, to post the victory.
 
McKendree led 8-6 just four-plus minutes into the first quarter, before the Dragons, who from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, closed the opening quarter on 12-4 run to hold a 16-12 lead after the first 10 minutes. Fortune scored nine of McKendree's 12 points in the quarter.
 
Tiffin would push its lead six points just 47 seconds into the second quarter, before the Bearcats responded with a 13-4 run to take a 25-22 lead following a lay-up by senior guard Haley Zylka (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) with 2:55 left in the quarter. The run was keyed by Zylka's seven points, which would be all the points she would score in the game.
 
Jessica Chase would hit a trey about 53 seconds after Zylka's lay-up retied the game at 25. That trey would ignite the Dragons as they scored the final nine points of the quarter to hold a 31-25 lead at the half.
 
"I give us big props for the first half. I thought we played pretty well in the first and second quarters and were pretty focused as we did a good job at attacking offensively, but we need to transition that into the second half," McKendree head coach Kari Kerkhoff said following the game.
 
The third quarter belonged to Tiffin as they outscored the Bearcats, 18-7 to hold a 49-32 lead heading into the final quarter of play. The Bearcats would be held scoreless in the first five minutes of the period until Froebe would make a jump shot with 4:59 left in the quarter to drop Tiffin's lead to 44-27. The teams would close the period by scoring a combined nine points. Tiffin shot 50 percent from the field, while McKendree shot 23 percent from the field in the quarter.
 
McKendree would open the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run to drop Tiffin's lead to 51-38 following a lay-up by sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) with 6:09 left in the quarter. Tiffin, though, would respond with a 13-0 run to push its lead to as much as 26 points following a lay-up by Brooklyn Gammon with 46 seconds left in the game. Gammon's lay-up gave Tiffin a 64-38 lead.
 
Redshirt sophomore guard Ashley Schloer (O'Fallon, Ill./St. Cloud State) would cap the scoring by hitting two free throws with 28 seconds left to set the final margin.
 
Savanah Richards paced four Dragons in double figures with 13 points, while Kirsten Williams added 12 points and Aarion Nichols chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds. The fourth double-digit scorer was Jada Tate as she tallied 10 points and also had seven rebounds.
 
The Bearcats were outrebounded, 43-28 in the game, including 16-3 on the offensive boards that led to a 15-0 edge in second chance points. Golden paced the Bearcats with a game-high nine rebounds.
 
McKendree also struggled taking care of the ball as they committed 24 turnovers and those 24 turnovers led to 27 points for Tiffin. Tiffin had 15 turnovers that led to nine points for the Bearcats.
 
"We need to take better care of the basketball when we're tired and also focus defensively when we're tired," added Kerkhoff, who is in her seventh season at the Bearcats coach.
 
The Bearcats were strong from the free throw line as they went 9-for-11 (81.8 percent) at the line. Tiffin was 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) at the line in the game.
 
In Friday's other game of the Midwest Region Crossover, Illinois-Springfield picked up a 61-57 win over Purdue Northwest.
 
McKendree will complete play in the Midwest Region Crossover on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. against Purdue Northwest. UIS will open the day with an 11 a.m. game against Tiffin.