QUINCY, Ill. – Despite holding a 22-15 lead after the first quarter, the McKendree University women's basketball team suffered a 70-46 defeat here Friday evening to Winona State University in the opening game of the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic hosted by Quincy University and held at Pepsi Arena.
With the setback, the Bearcats fell to 0-3 on the season, while Winona State opens the 2021-22 season with a win. The 0-3 start is the first for the Bearcats since the 2014-15 team opened the season by losing its first five games.
Junior guard
Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) got the Bearcats off to a fast start as she scored all nine of her points in the first quarter, including giving McKendree an 18-15 lead following a trey with 1:52 left in the opening quarter. Redshirt junior guard
Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) would close the quarter by scoring the final four points to give the Bearcats its 22-15 lead.
In the opening quarter, the Bearcats shot 68 percent from the field and were 2-for-3 from the 3-point line.
From that point, McKendree would make just eight of its next 34 shots over the final three quarters and finished the game shooting 37 percent from the field and 27 percent (3-for-11) from the 3-point line in suffering its third straight loss.
Sophomore guard
Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) paced the Bearcats with 13 points, while second-year freshman
Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) added 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Fortune added nine points and Froebe tallied eight points.
The Warriors would open the second quarter on 10-0 run to take a 25-22 lead following a lay-up by Emma Fee with 6:52 left in the quarter. Winona State retook the lead 25 seconds earlier on a lay-up by Taylor Hustad.
Redshirt sophomore guard
Ashley Schloer (O'Fallon, Ill./St. Cloud State) would stop the Warriors run on a lay-up with 6:25 left in the quarter to pull the Bearcats within 25-24, but Winona would respond with a 16-2 run to push its lead to 41-26. Schloer would cap the first half scoring on a lay-up with 46 seconds left to cut Winona's halftime lead to 41-28.
The Warriors would outscore the Bearcats 17-7 in the third quarter to push its lead to 58-35. Over the middle two quarters of the game, McKendree was outscored, 43-13 and shot just 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) from the field and 0-for-4 from the 3-point line.
Winona would push its lead to as much as 26 points after opening the fourth quarter on a 6-3 run to push in front 64-38 with 6:34 left in the game.
The Bearcats would close the game by outscoring the Warriors, 8-6, to set the final margin.
Hustad led four Winona players in double figures with 18 points and added seven rebounds, while Fee added 14 points and seven rebounds. Caitlin Riley and Ava Sergio each has 12 points in the win.
While McKendree shot 37 percent from the field and 27 percent from the 3-point line, Winona would finish the contest shooting 49 percent from the field, including 52.1 percent from the floor over the final three quarters. The Warriors shot 24 percent from the 3-point line.
The Bearcats were outrebounded, 41-25 and committed 18 turnovers that led to 16 points for Winona, while Winona had 14 turnovers that led to eight points for the Bearcats. The Warriors also held a 48-26 advantage in points in the paint.
Winona finished the game without shooting a free throw, while McKendree was 7-for-10 (70 percent). In fact, neither team shot a free throw in the first half of the game.
The Bearcats will look to pick up its first win of the season on Saturday, Nov. 19 as they conclude play in the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home Classic with a 2 p.m. game against Ferris State (3-1), who picked up a 70-57 win over Quincy in Friday's second game of the two-day event.
