SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The McKendree University women's basketball team opened Great Lakes Valley Conference play here Monday evening with an 81-52 setback to the University of Illinois-Springfield at TRAC (The Recreation and Athletics Center) on the UIS campus.

With the setback, McKendree falls to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the league, while UIS improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the league. The Bearcats are now 2-8 all-time in GLVC openers in the school history and Monday's setback was its third straight to open league play.

Sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and redshirt senior Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) each scored 16 points in Monday's game. The 16 points by Golden was one shy of her career high of 17 set earlier this season against Purdue Northwest, while the 16 points pushed Diekhoff's career total to 1,106 points. 

A third Bearcat, second-year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) was just shy of double figures as she finished with seven points and six rebounds in the game.

The Bearcats offense was held to 15 or less points in all four quarters against the Prairie Stars, including scoring a total of 22 points in the second and third quarters combined. UIS would score 39 points in those two quarters to take a 62-37 lead after three quarters.

For the game, the Bearcats shot 36 percent from the field and 29 percent from the 3-point line and was 12-for-19 (63 percent) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, UIS shot 46 percent from the floor and 32 percent from the 3-point line and was 16-for-24 (67 percent) from the line. 

McKendree was outrebounded 45-26, including 15-5 advantage on the offensive glass on the night. Sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) led the way with a career-high tying 10 rebounds and has now recorded 10 rebounds in of the her last two games. That 15-5 edge on the offensive boards led to a 15-4 advantage for UIS in second chance points. 

The Bearcats trailed 8-0 just five minutes into the game, before Diekhoff scored eight of the game's next 10 points to pull the Bearcats within two points at 10-8 with 3:32 left in the opening period. 

After UIS scored seven of the next 11 points to push its lead back to 17-12, Golden made a lay-up with a minute left in the quarter to pull the Bearcats within three at 17-14. The Prairie Stars, though, would close out the first quarter on on a 6-1 run to hold a 23-15 lead after the opening 10 minutes. 

The Prairie Stars opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run to push in front 32-15 with 3:55 left in the quarter. A basket by Fortune and a trey from redshirt sophomore guard Ashley Schloer (O'Fallon, Ill./St. Cloud State) pushed the Bearcats with 14 at 34-20 with 2:24 left in the quarter. The two teams would each score five points each to close the quarter to give UIS a 39-25 lead at the half. 

In the third quarter, UIS opened on a 15-4 run to push its lead to 54-29 just six-and-half minutes into the quarter. The Bearcats, though, would make three of four free throws to cut UIS' lead to 54-32 with 2:20 left in the quarter. The Prairie Stars would close out the quarter on an 8-5 run to take a 25 point lead at 62-37 heading into the final quarter. 

McKendree would open the fourth quarter by scoring six of the first 11 points, including four of those points coming from Golden, to pull within 67-43 with 6:56 left in the game. UIS would respond by closing the game on a 14-9 run to set the final margin. 

Liz Uhl paced UIS with 19 points off the bench, while Ellie Mitchell added 14 points and six rebounds and Ally Gietzel tallied 11 points and six boards. The fourth double-digit scorer for the Prairie Stars was Lauren Ladowski as she had 10 points in the win. Jayln Harris had eight points and team-high eight rebounds. 

The team combined for 37 turnovers as McKendree had 20 turnovers and UIS committed 17 turnovers. The Bearcats, though, recorded 10 steals in the game with two each from Breden, Fortune and Diekhoff. 

The Bearcats will look to get back into win column this coming Thursday, Dec. 2 as they play a 5:15 p.m. GLVC game at Maryville University (3-3, 0-1), who opened GLVC play with a 69-62 loss Monday at Lindenwood.