MARYVILLE, Mo. – The McKendree University women's basketball team concluded the non-conference portion of its 2021-22 schedule here Wednesday evening as they fell 54-29 to Northwest Missouri State at Bearcat Arena.
 
With the setback, McKendree falls to 1-9 overall on the season, while Northwest Missouri improved to 9-2 on the year. McKendree went 1-6 in non-conference play this season.
 
The start of Wednesday's 'Battle of the Bearcats' game was delayed 10 minutes due to a tornado warning in the Maryville area and once the game began, the two teams struggled out of the gate as they combined to score just 31 points in the first half after making a combined 13 of their 47 shots (27.7 percent) and going a combined 1-for-14 from the 3-point line.
 
Northwest Missouri led 11-7 after the first quarter and held a 20-11 lead at the half.
 
For the game, McKendree finished the night shooting a season-low 23.3 percent (10-for-43) from the field and also shot a season low 7.7 percent (1-for-13) from the 3-point line in dropping its fifth straight game since picking up a 90-71 win over Blackburn on Nov. 23. The 29 points were a season low for McKendree.

Northwest Missouri finished the night shooting 39 percent (20-for-52) from the field and 22 percent (5-for-23) from the 3-point line.
 
The two teams scored just eight points in the opening seven-plus minutes of the game as NWMSU led 6-2 following a free throw by Peyton Kelderman with 4:04 left in the opening quarter. Northwest's lead grew to 9-2 following a trey by Caely Kesten with 2:02 left in the quarter, before McKendree closed the opening quarter by scoring five of the final seven points, including freshman guard Morgan Nettles (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) hitting a lay-up off an offensive rebound right before the buzzer, to trail 11-7 after the first 10 minutes.
 
In the opening quarter, the two teams went a combined 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) from the field and 1-for-10 (10 percent) from the 3-point line and combined for 11 turnovers as Northwest Missouri had six of those turnovers and McKendree had five turnovers.
 
McKendree would open the second quarter by scoring four of the first six points, including redshirt senior guard/forward Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) hitting a lay-up with 4:37 left in the quarter to put McKendree within 13-11.
 
Northwest Missouri, though, would close the second quarter on a 7-0 run to push its lead to 20-11 at the half.
 
NWMSU would open the third quarter on an 11-0 run to push its nine point halftime lead to 32-11 just four minutes into the quarter. Redshirt sophomore guard Ashley Schloer (O'Fallon, Ill./St. Cloud State) would stop Northwest's run by making three of four free throws over a span of 42 seconds and then after a trey by sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) pulled McKendree within 32-17 with 4:27 left in the quarter.
 
That would be as close as McKendree would get, though, as NWMSU closed the third quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 40-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Northwest opened the final quarter on an 8-0 run to push its lead to 48-17 with 7:15 left in the game, but the Bearcats would respond by scoring 12 of the game's final 18 points, including Schloer scoring four of her career-high seven points in the quarter. In the fourth quarter, NWMSU outscored McKendree, 14-12.
 
All 10 McKendree players scored in the game as along with Schloer's career-high seven points, senior guard Haley Zylka (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) added four points and three rebounds. Diekhoff and Fortune each finished with three points on the night.
 
Northwest Missouri held Fortune to just three points as she hit the lone trey of the game for the Bearcats in the third quarter. Fortune entered the game averaging 13.5 points per game and had scored in double figures in five of eight games on the year.
 
Jayna Green and Kesten paced the way offensively for Northwest Missouri as they each scored nine points, while Mallory McConkey and Emma Atwood each had seven points in the game as 10 of the 12 NWMSU players that played scored at least two points in the win.
 
Northwest Missouri won the rebound battle, 41-27 as senior guard Madison Jones (Abingdon, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) had a team-high five rebounds. Kelsey Fields led NWMSU with seven boards, including three offensive boards as the home team Bearcats recorded 11 offensive boards in the game.
 
After recording a total of 11 turnovers in the first quarter, the teams combined for 18 turnovers over the next three quarters as McKendree finished with 16 turnovers on the night and NWMSU had 13 turnovers.

The teams went a combined 17-for-24 from the free throw line as McKendree was 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) at the line and NWMSU was 9-for-12 (75 percent) at the line. 
 
McKendree's bench scored 16 of its 29 points and they scored 16 points in the paint.
 
McKendree will now take 18 days off before returning to action on Sunday, Jan. 2 as they open the New Year with a 1 p.m. Great Lakes Valley Conference match-up against the University of Southern Indiana at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.