KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The McKendree University women's basketball team concluded its two-game trip to the Show Me State here Saturday afternoon by suffering a 90-63 setback to Truman State University in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Pershing Arena.

With the setback, McKendree falls to 3-14 overall and 2-8 in the GLVC, while Truman State improved to 14-6 overall and 10-2 in the league.

The 63 points scored by the Bearcats tied a season high for points scored in a GLVC game as the Bearcats also scored 63 points in a 63-58 home win over UIndy on Jan. 13. 

Second-year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) led the way with a game-high 17 points, while senior guard Jenna Krause (Seymour, Wis./Seymour) and sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) added 11 points in the contest. The 11 points for Krause was a season high.

After Truman led by as much as four points just four minutes into the first quarter, the Bearcats used consecutive treys from Breden and Krause to tie the game at 10 and then added two free throws by Breden with 3:31 left in the quarter that gave the Bearcats its lone lead of the game at 12-10. That lead, though, was short lived as Stugart drilled a trey with 2:33 remaining in the quarter to help TSU retake the lead. Stugart's trey ignited a 10-3 run by the Bulldogs to end the opening quarter and take a 23-15 lead. 

The second quarter belonged to the Bulldogs as they shot 64 percent from the field and was 3-for-5 from the 3-point line to outscore the Bearcats, 21-12 in the quarter to hold a 44-27 lead at the half. 

Truman opened the third quarter on an 11-4 run to push out to a 55-31 lead just two-plus minutes into the quarter. The Bearcats, though, would respond with six consecutive points by Krause to pull within 57-37 with 5:56 left in the quarter. TSU would answer with a 16-8 run over the next five minutes to push its lead to 73-45 with 42 seconds remaining in the quarter. Fortune would hit two free throws with 21 seconds left to cap the scoring and give TSU a 73-47 lead after three quarters. 

The Bulldogs would push its lead to as much as 33 points following a trey by Kennedy Wallace with 3:44 left in the quarter that gave TSU an 88-55 lead. McKendree would score eight of the final 10 points to cap the scoring. Fortune and redshirt junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) would each score three points each, while sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) scored the other two points. 

Truman's win was keyed by strong shooting from both the field and the three-point line as the Bulldogs finished the game shooting 61 percent from the field and 59 percent (13-for-22) from the 3-point line. The Bearcats finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field and 44 percent from the 3-point line.

Another factor in the game was turnovers as the Bearcats committed just 12 turnovers, but those 12 turnovers turned into 21 points for the home team. Truman had 11 turnovers that led to nine points for the Bearcats.

Hannah Pinkston and Gracie Stugart led a balanced Bulldogs offense as they each tallied 12 points, while Katey Klucking added 11 points. Two Bulldogs scored eight points and three Bulldogs tallied seven points as 12 Truman State players scored in the contest.

In addition, redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) moved into fifth place on the school's all-time list for made career 3-pointers as she hit two in Saturday's game to push her career total to 161, which passed Ashley Agee, who made 160 treys as a Bearcat from 2007-12. 

McKendree was once again strong at the free throw line in Saturday's contest as they went 12-for-15 (80 percent) at the line, including Fortune going 5-for-5 at the line. Over their last three games, the Bearcats are 54-for-65 (83.1 percent) at the line, including tying a season high with 22 made free throws on Thursday at William Jewell. 

The Bearcats were outrebounded 31-14 with Krause leading the way with six boards, while Breden added five boards. Emma Bulman led TSU with seven boards, while Madison Niemeier had six boards. 

Both teams blocked three shots, with Krause blocking two of those three shots for the Bearcats.

The Bearcats will return home to the Melvin Price Convocation Center for two games next week as they host Southwest Baptist for a 5:30 p.m. game on Thursday, Feb. 3, before facing Rockhurst for a 1 p.m. game on Feb. 5.