LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University women's basketball team trailed by 19 points midway through the third quarter at home Saturday afternoon against the University of Illinois-Springfield, before pulling within 62-54 with 2:09 left in the game, but the Prairie Stars drilled a 3-pointer with 1:29 lead to help secure its 69-57 win over the Bearcats in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
 
With the loss, McKendree falls to 2-13 overall and 1-7 in the GLVC, while UIS improves to 9-6 overall and 4-5 in the league. The setback by the Bearcats was its third consecutive since picking up a 63-58 home win on Jan. 13 against Indianapolis.
 
Saturday's game was the third game this week for the Bearcats as they opened the week with a 90-59 setback on Monday at Southern Indiana, before suffering a 51-48 loss at home on Thursday against Quincy. Saturday's game was also the second meeting this season between the two schools as the Bearcats opened league play with an 81-52 setback at UIS on Nov. 29.
 
Redshirt junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) recorded her first career double-double as she scored 14 points and added a career high 11 rebounds. In addition to Froebe, redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) scored a season high 13 points to push her career scoring total to 1,157 points and sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) added 11 points in the game. 
 
With the Bearcats trailing 49-29 following a lay-up by Ellie Mitchell with 3:50 left in the third quarter, McKendree closed the third quarter on a 6-3 run to cut UIS' lead to 51-35 after three quarters.
 
The Bearcats would extend its scoring run into the fourth quarter as they scored five of the first seven points in the quarter to pull within 13 at 53-40 following two free throws by Diekhoff with 8:28 left in the quarter.
 
About 67 seconds later, Lauren Ladowski drilled a trey to push UIS' lead to 56-40 with 7:21 remaining. The Bearcats, though, responded with an 11-4 run that was keyed by seven straight points from Golden and capped by lay-ups from Diekhoff to pull within 60-51 with 3:06 remaining.
 
Ally Geitzel would give the Prairie Stars a 62-51 lead following a lay-up with 2:34 left in the game, but a free throw by Diekhoff and a lay-up from Golden with 2:09 left in the game brought the Bearcats within eight points at 62-54. That would be as close the Bearcats would be since early in the second quarter.
 
About 40 seconds after Golden's lay-up, Malea Jackson put a dagger in the Bearcats comeback as she drilled a trey as the shot clock was running down to give UIS a 65-54 lead with 1:29 left in the contest.
 
The Prairie Stars would make cap their scoring by making two free throws at 44 and 35 seconds to push its lead to 69-55, before Diekhoff capped the scoring by converting two free throws with 28 seconds remaining.
 
Froebe scored the first four points of the game for the Bearcats, before UIS responded with 10-4 run to take a 10-8 lead with 2:48 left in the first quarter. After Froebe retied the game at 10 following two free throws with 1:59 left, the Prairie Stars closed the opening quarter on a 6-0 run to hold a 16-10 lead after the first 10 minutes.
 
UIS would outscore the Bearcats, 19-12 in the second quarter to take 35-22 lead at the half.
 
Froebe, Fortune and senior guard Jenna Krause (Seymour, Wis./Seymour) combined for 17 of McKendree's 22 first half points.
 
In the third quarter, UIS opened the period by scoring seven of the first nine points to push out to a 42-24 lead with 7:08 left in the period. The Bearcats would score four straight points to cut the deficit to 42-28, but the Prairie Stars would answer with a 6-1 run to push out to a 48-29 advantage with 3:50 left.
 
Jackson paced UIS with a game-high 23 points, while Ladowski added 21 points for her third straight game of scoring 20 or more points. Ladowski and Jackson combined to score 22 of UIS' 34 second half points.
 
The Bearcats finished the game with a 46-39 edge on the glass as along with Froebe's 11 rebounds, second-year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) and Golden each had seven boards, while Krause and sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) pulled down six boards apiece.
 
Despite winning the rebound battle, UIS held a 15-14 advantage on the offensive glass, but McKendree held a 14-6 edge in second chance points on the day.
 
Both teams struggled shooting the ball in Saturday's game as the Bearcats were 17-for-51 (33.3 percent) from the field and 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) from the 3-point line, while UIS was 25-for-69 (36.2 percent) from the field and 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) from long distance.
 
Perhaps the biggest difference in the game were turnovers as the Bearcats committed 19 turnovers that led to 17 UIS points. UIS had just seven turnovers in the game and that led to just four points for the Bearcats.
 
McKendree was also strong at the free throw line as they went 20-for-26 (76.9 percent) at the line and the 26 free throw attempts tied a season high. UIS was just 13-for-18 (72.2 percent) from the line.
 
The Bearcats will look to get back into the win column this coming Thursday, Jan. 27 as they begin a two-game road trip with a 5:30 p.m. GLVC contest in Liberty, Mo., against William Jewell. The trip will conclude with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, Jan. 29 in Kirksville, Mo., against Truman State.