LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University women's basketball put the brakes on its six-game losing streak here Thursday evening as the Bearcats used a career-high 24 points from second year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville) and 23 points from sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) en route to posting a 63-58 victory over the University of Indianapolis in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
 
With the victory, McKendree improves to 2-10 overall and 1-4 in the GLVC, while UIndy drops to 4-8 overall and 1-3 in the league. The win was the first for the Bearcats since earning a 90-71 victory at home over Blackburn College on Nov. 23, 2021.
 
Thursday's win was keyed by a strong second quarter that turned a 15-11 first quarter deficit into a 31-29 lead at the half. The Bearcats scored a season high 20 second quarter points and forced the Greyhounds into 16 turnovers that led 19 points for the Bearcats. McKendree had just 11 turnovers on the night.
 
"I thought we had an attack mentality from the beginning of the game tonight and I also thought we were very aggressive offensively," McKendree head coach Kari Kerkhoff said following the game. "We also did a great job at finding the cutters and making shots in transition."
 
It marked the second time this season that McKendree had two players scored 20 or more points in a game as Breden and Fortune combined for 58 points in the win over Blackburn. Against the Beavers, Fortune scored a career high 36 points, while Breden tallied a then career high 22 points.
 
Breden and Fortune combined for 24 of McKendree's 32 second half points.
 
"Breden got it started on our attack mentality and we we did a good job at finding Fortune," Kerkhoff added. "Fortune always has the green light to shoot the ball."
 
UIndy jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening 46 seconds of the game, before the Bearcats used a 9-0 run to push out to a 9-5 lead following a lay-up by sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia). Fortune and Breden combined for seven of the nine points during the run.
 
The 'Hounds would respond with a 10-0 run to push its lead to 15-9 with two minutes left in the opening quarter. Golden would cap the first quarter scoring to cut UIndy's lead to 15-11 after the opening 10 minutes of the contest.
 
McKendree would open the second quarter on an 8-0 run keyed by back-to-back treys from Fortune to take a 19-15 lead just three-plus minutes into the quarter.
 
UIndy would answer right back with a 10-0 run to retake the lead at 25-19 with 3:41 left in the quarter, before a 6-0 run keyed by five points from Breden to retie the game at 25 with 1:49 remaining in the opening half.
 
After two free throws by Shira Sasson helped UIndy retake the lead at 27-25, the Bearcats would close the quarter on a 6-2 run to take a 31-29 halftime lead.
 
The Greyhounds got off to a strong start in the third quarter as they opened the period by scoring 11 of the first 13 points to push its lead to 40-33 with 6:31 left in the quarter. The seven-point lead was the largest of the game for either team.
 
McKendree came right back and used a 10-0 run capped by a driving lay-up by redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) to take a 43-40 lead with 3:41 left in the quarter. The Bearcats retook the lead at 41-40 on a trey from Breden with a little over five minutes left in the period.
 
After Sadie Hill hit two free throws to stop the Bearcats run, the Bearcats used baskets by Fortune and redshirt sophomore guard Ashley Schloer (O'Fallon, Ill./St. Cloud State) to give McKendree a 47-42 lead with 1:56 left in the quarter.
 
UIndy wouldn't go away as the 'Hounds used an 8-1 run over the final two minutes of the third quarter and the opening 73 seconds of the fourth quarter to take a 50-48 lead. McKendree led 48-46 after three quarters.
 
The Bearcats would mount a final charge as they answered the 'Hounds' run with a 7-4 run to take a 57-53 lead with 2:48 left in the game, including retaking the lead at 51-50 on a trey by Fortune with 7:21 remaining.
 
After Marissa Knobloch drilled a trey with 2:38 left in the game to cut McKendree's lead to 57-56. Breden and Fortune would combine to score the final six points for the Bearcats to seal its first win of 2022.
 
Hill paced UIndy with 18 points and six rebounds, while Knoblach added 12 points off the bench in the loss.
 
The Bearcats defense held UIndy's No. 2 scorer Taylor Drury scoreless as Drury entered the game averaging 13.3 points per game.
 
McKendree finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line, while UIndy shot 40 percent from the field and 32 percent (7-for-22) from the 3-point line.
 
The Bearcats were outrebounded, 31-30 as Fortune led the way with nine boards, while Breden added five boards. Sasson and Hill each had six boards for the Greyhounds.
 
McKendree recorded 16 assists with redshirt junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) and senior guard Jenna Krause (Seymour, Wis./Seymour) each dishing out five assists. Froebe's five assists were a career high, while Krause's five assists tied a career high.
 
The teams combined to shoot 26 free throws as McKendree was 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from the free throw line, while UIndy was 9-for-10 (90 percent) from the line.
 
McKendree will look to make it two straight wins as they return to action on Monday, Jan. 17 as they travel to Evansville, Ind., for a 5:30 p.m. GLVC contest against Southern Indiana. The game that was scheduled for Saturday at Lewis was canceled on Thursday afternoon due to health and safety protocols in the Lewis program.