JOPLIN, Mo. - McKendree University women's basketball returned to action here for the first time in nine days as they fell 92-55 in non-conference action to Missouri Southern State University at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on the MSSU campus. 

Monday's game was the first for the Bearcats since opening the home portion of its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule on Dec. 4 with as 69-50 loss to Lewis University. 

With the setback, McKendree falls to 1-8 overall and will conclude its first semester schedule on Wednesday, Dec. 15 with a 6 p.m. game in Maryville, Mo., against Northwest Missouri State. Missouri Southern ran its win streak to six straight as they improved to 6-2 on the year.

Despite the loss, the Bearcats won the fourth quarter as they outscored the Lions, 22-16 in the final period and that marked the most points scored by the Bearcats in the fourth quarter of a game this season and the first time they topped the 20 point mark in the fourth quarter since scoring 20 points in its win over Blackburn on Nov. 23. 

The strong fourth quarter was aided by a combined 16 points from sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) and senior guard Madison Jones (Abingdon, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) as Fortune scored all 10 of her points in the quarter, while Jones scored six of her season high 15 points in the quarter. 

With her 10 points, Fortune has now scored in double figures in a team-high tying five games and moved within 11 points of 400 career points as she has now scored 389 career points. 

After shooting under 37 percent from the field in the first three quarters, the Bearcats shot 45 percent (9-for-20) from the field in the final period, including making two of its three 3-pointers in the game. 

The Bearcats, who trailed 47-20 at the half, would be outscored by just 10 points (45-35) in the second half. The 35 second half points were the second most scored this season by the Bearcats as they scored 49 points after halftime in its win over Blackburn. 

In addition to the 15 points by Jones and the 10 points by Fortune, sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) added eight points and second-year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) tallied six points.

Despite a heighth disadvantage in the game, McKendree was just outrebounded by three boards (39-36), including collecting a season high 14 offensive rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) led the way on the boards with a career high tying eight boards, including three offensive boards. Four other Bearcats, including Fortune, finished with four rebounds in the game.

For the game, McKendree shot 34 percent from the field and 18 percent (3-for-17) from the 3-point line and was 10-for-14 (71 percent) from the free throw line. MSSU, who is now 3-2 all-time against the Bearcats, shot 53 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line. The Lions were 13-for-28 from the 3-point line on the night. 

MSSU jumped out to a 13-4 lead just three-plus minutes into the game and led 25-7 with 1:46 left in the first quarter before the Bearcats scored three of the final five points of the quarter to cut MSSU's lead to 27-10 after the first 10 minutes of action.

McKendree would open the second quarter on a 6-5 run to pull within 32-16 following a lay-up by Jones with 7:16 left in the quarter. The Lions, though, came right back and scored eight straight points to push its lead to 40-16 with 4:12 left in the quarter. 

Senior guard Haley Zylka (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) stopped MSSU's run with a lay-up with 3:25 left in the quarter to cut MSSU's lead to 40-18, but MSSU would score seven of the final nine points of the first half to hold a 47-20 lead at the half. 

MSSU opened the third quarter on a 17-3 run to push its lead to 64-23 with 5:36 left in the quarter. Five straight points by Jones and a lay-up by Breden brought the Bearcats within 68-30 with 2:47 left in the quarter. 

The Lions would close the third quarter on an 8-3 run to take a 76-33 lead heading into the fourth quarter. 

Jones and Fortune combined to score 11 of McKendree's first 13 points to open the fourth quarter to cut MSSU's lead to 81-46 with 4:34 left in the game. 

Maleigha Landers, though, would stop the Bearcat run with a trey at the 4:19 mark to push the Lions lead back to 38 points at 84-46. The Bearcats would once again respond with an 11-5 run to cut MSSU's lead to 89-55 with 44 seconds left in the game. That run began with a driving lay-up by Fortune and was capped by a fast-break lay-up from Breden. 

Madi Stokes would cap the scoring with a lay-up and a free throw with 27 seconds left to set the final margin. Stokes and Landers would score all of MSSU's points in the fourth quarter as Landers hit treys for nine points and Stokes scored seven points. 

Stokes was one four Lions to finish in double figures as she tallied a game high 19 points, while Cameron Call added 13 points and Kaitlin Hunnicutt scored 11 points. The fourth double-digit scorer was Amaya Johns, who scored 10 points in the win.

Hailey Grant led the Lions in rebounding with a game-high 10 boards. 

McKendree finished the game with 21 turnovers that led to 24 points for the Lions and Lions held a 7-1 edge in blocked shots, including three blocks each from Stokes and Grant.