TOWN & COUNTRY, Mo. – The McKendree University women's basketball concluded its two game road trip to open Great Lakes Valley Conference play here Thursday evening by suffering a 70-40 setback to Maryville University at the Moloney Arena on the Maryville campus.
 
With the setback, McKendree fell to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in the league, while Maryville improved to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the league. Thursday's game came three days after the Bearcats opened GLVC play with an 81-52 loss at Illinois-Springfield.
 
The three-game stretch of GLVC games will conclude on Saturday as the Bearcats open the home portion of its 2021-22 GLVC schedule with a 1 p.m. match-up against Lewis University at the Melvin Price Convocation Center. Lewis enters the game with a 1-6 overall record and an 0-1 record in the GLVC following its 79-67 home loss Thursday against the University of Indianapolis.
 
Sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) continued to pace the Bearcats offense as she finished with a game high 15 points and added eight rebounds. Fortune has now scored in double figures in four games this season and pushed her career scoring total to 365 points.
 
In addition to Fortune, second-year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) added 10 points and four rebounds. Breden has now scored in double figures in four of seven games on the year.
 
McKendree's offense struggled in Thursday's game as they shot a season low 24.5 percent (12-for-49) from the field and were held to 40 points, including scoring 12 or fewer in all four quarters against the Saints.
 
While shooting just 25 percent from the field for the game, McKendree shot under 22 percent from the field in the middle two quarters as they went a combined 5-for-25 from the field (20 percent) in the second and third quarters as they scored a total of 18 points. Maryville would outscore McKendree, 38-18 in those two quarters.
 
Redshirt junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) give the Bearcats an early 1-0 lead after hitting one of two free throws just 95 seconds into the contest. That would be the only lead of the game for the Bearcats as following Froebe's free throw, the Saints used an 11-4 run to push in front 11-5 just 4:45 left in the game.
 
A three-pointer by Fortune with 4:24 left in the first quarter brought the Bearcats within three at 11-8, but Maryville would close the first quarter on a 9-2 run to lead 20-10 after the opening 10 minutes.
 
Maryville would shoot 57 percent from the field in the second quarter as they pushed their 10 point first quarter lead to 39-19 at the half. Breden and redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) would combine to score six of McKendree's nine second quarter points.
 
Diekhoff, who entered the game shooting 50 percent from the field on the season, finished Thursday's game going 1-for-14 from the field and 0-for-5 from the 3-point line as she tallied three points and five rebounds in the loss.
 
The Saints would open the third quarter on a 17-4 run to push its lead to 56-23 with 2:06 left in the quarter. Fortune would score five of the final seven points of the quarter to cut MU's lead to 58-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
McKendree opened the fourth quarter 10-5 run to cut MU's lead 63-38 with a little over five minutes left in the game. Sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) would score four of those six points, while Fortune capped the run with a 3-pointer. Maryville, though, would close the game on a 7-2 run to set the final margin.
 
Antoinette Mussorici led the way for Maryville with 13 points, while Rylee Mulvaney chipped in 12 points off the bench and Taylor Kirby was the third Saint to score in double figures as she tallied 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
McKendree was outrebounded, 42-31 and they committed 16 turnovers that led to 19 points for the Saints. Maryville had 10 turnovers and held a 33-8 edge in bench points.
 
The Saints shot 44 percent from the field, but just 32 percent (6-for-19) from the 3-point line and were 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line.