TIFFIN, Ohio - The McKendree University women's basketball team opened its 2022-23 campaign here Friday evening as the Bearcats suffered a 51-41 setback to Tiffin University on the first day of the Midwest Region Crossover at the Gilmor Student Center on the Tiffin campus. 

McKendree will conclude the two-game season opening road trip at Tiffin on Saturday, Nov. 12 as they conclude the Midwest Region Crossover with a 7 p.m. Eastern game against Purdue Northwest. PNW opened the season with a 79-71 win over Illinois-Springfield on Friday. 

The Bearcats were led in scoring by junior guard Maclayne Taylor (Ogden, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) with nine points in her collegiate debut, while junior forward Naomi McDaniel (Attica, Ind./Parkland CC) and sophomore guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville) each tallied eight points for the contest. McDaniel, who was making her collegiate debut as a Bearcat, also grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Bearcats. Junior guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) added seven rebounds to the Bearcats' game-high total of 34 rebounds. 

McKendree held the advantage over Tiffin for most of the first quarter as the Bearcats jumped to a 5-2 lead in the first two minutes of the contest. The Dragons answered with a 4-0 run to capture their first lead of the game before the Bearcats bounced back to at 11-8 lead with a minute left. McKendree and Tiffin locked the score at 11 for the first quarter as Tiffin's Kaitlyn Moeller's late three tied it up with 16 seconds remaining. For the quarter, McKendree shot 50 percent from the field to Tiffin's 38 percent from the field. 

The score held at 11-11 for the first three minutes of the second quarter until a layup from Taylor put the Bearcats up at the seven-minute mark. At the half, the Bearcats led 24-21 as redshirt freshman Maci Meyer (Hubertus, Wisc./Hartford) scored seven of McKendree's 13 second-quarter points while senior guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) added a layup and two free throws in the quarter. Meyer was making her collegiate debut on Friday after sitting out last season with a knee injury.

McKendree was held to their only single-digit scoring quarter in the game as Tiffin came out strong with an 8-0 run following halftime as Tiffin's Jada Tate accounted for six of their eight points. Although the Bearcats tried to climb back with a late layup and free throw from Golden, the Dragons held a seven-point advantage at 38-31 after three quarters of play. 

Tiffin's lead would extend to as much as 12 points over McKendree in the fourth quarter as the Bearcats battled to cut the lead. However, the Dragons' lead proved insurmountable as Tiffin solidified a 10-point lead with four minutes to go in the contest. The final score read 51-41 in favor of Tiffin. 

The Bearcats edged out the Dragons 34-33 in rebounding and second chance points 6-4 in addition to tallying only 20 turnovers to Tiffin's 21 for the game. 

Tiffin prevailed over McKendree in scoring as the Dragons shot 44 percent from the field and 40 percent from the three-point line as the Bearcats shot 29 percent from the field and were held to a 2-for-22 effort (9.1 percent) from the three-point line. Both teams acquired 28 points from inside the paint in the contest. 

Both teams combined for 18 free throws in the game as McKendree was 7-for-10 at the line, while Tiffin was 6-for-8 at the line.