KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – McKendree University women's basketball trailed by 20 points just three minutes into the third quarter at Truman State before cutting the lead to 74-68 with 33 seconds left, but the Bulldogs would make five of six free throws down the stretch to secure a 79-72 win over the Bearcats here Saturday afternoon in Great Lakes Valley Conference action at Pershing Arena.
 
With the setback, McKendree snaps its two-game winning streak and falls to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in the GLVC while Truman improved to 4-3 overall and 1-0 in the league.
 
After trailing 45-29 at the half, McKendree outscored Truman State, 42-34, in the second half to help the Bearcats mount its rally.
 
"I think early on in the game if we would've had a little better focus on just their (Truman's) post play and defending cross screens. They got too many early touches in the paint with Weltha and we let her get hot early in the game, it might've been a different situation at halftime," McKendree head coach Kari Kerkhoff said. "I loved our fight and we were able to battle back in the second half."
 
Truman, who was playing its first game of the season, opened the third quarter by scoring six of the first eight points to pull out to a 51-31 lead. The Bearcats, though, used an 11-2 run to pull within 53-42 following a basket from freshman guard Georgia Duncan (Washington, Ill./Washington Community) with 4:25 left in the quarter.
 
TSU would answer with back with a 7-4 run to push its lead to 60-46 with 1:13 left in the period. McKendree would close the half by scoring four of the final six points to trail 62-50 heading into the final quarter.
 
The Bulldogs would open the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to push its 12-point lead to 17 points at 69-52 with 7:32 left in the fourth quarter.
 
From that point, the Bearcats would mount another comeback as they used a 16-5 run capped by a basket from freshman Alyssa Powell (Troy, Ill./Alton Marquette Catholic) to pull McKendree within six points at 74-68 with 33 seconds remaining. Powell scored the final four points of the run.
 
"We just kept finding a way and that's the biggest part," the eighth-year McKendree coach added. "What I like more than anything was our emphasis on boxing out the last couple of weeks and I thought I saw a focus on that today and if can continue to do that in terms of boxing out and crashing the boards offensively should help us be more successful."
 
Hannah Belanger would make four straight free throws over the next 21 seconds to push Truman's lead to 78-69 with 12 seconds left. Sophomore guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) would drill a trey with five seconds left to pull the Bearcats back within six at 78-72. Hannah Pinkston would cap the scoring by hitting 1-of-2 free throws with four seconds remaining.
 
Breden paced the Bearcats offensively with 15 points and added four rebounds and a career-high five steals. In addition to Breden, junior forward Kristyn Mitchell (Collinsville, Ill./Illinois Central) added 13 points, including scoring seven of those points in the first half.
 
Junior guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) tallied nine points and led the Bearcats with seven rebounds, while junior forward Naomi McDaniel (Attica, Ind./Parkland CC) and junior guard/forward Maclayne Taylor (Ogden, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) each scored eight points in the loss.
 
Ellie Weltha led the way for Truman State with a game-high 29 points, including tallying 19 of those points in the first half to help Truman to its 16-point halftime lead. Along with Weltha, Belanger finished with 17 points in the win. Belanger came into the game averaging 24.7 points per game on the season.
 
For the game, McKendree hit 48 percent (27-for-56) of its shots from the field, but was just 4-for-19 (21 percent) from the 3-point line. The Bearcats were 14-for-16 (87.5 percent) from the free throw line.
 
Both teams finished with 14 turnovers in the game, but McKendree scored 14 points off those Truman turnovers, including a 10-2 edge in points off turnovers in the second half.
 
Truman shot 49 percent from the field and 26 percent from the 3-point line, while hitting 73 percent (16-for-22) from the free throw line. Truman held a 32-31 edge on the glass.
 
The game was tied at 6-all just two-plus minutes into the game, but Weltha scored six of the next eight Truman points to push the Bulldogs out to a 14-9 lead with 5:31 left in the opening quarter. McKendree, though, responded with a 7-2 run capped by a Mitchell basket with 4:10 left in the quarter to tie the game at 16-all.
 
The Bulldogs, who have won 14 straight games in the series against McKendree, closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to take a 24-18 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
 
Truman State would outscore McKendree, 21-11, in the second quarter to push its halftime lead to 45-29.
 
McKendree will continue its two-game road trip with a 5:30 p.m. game on Monday, Nov. 28 in Liberty, Mo., against William Jewell (1-5, 0-1 GLVC).
 
"We need to make sure we take away the three-point shots for them and take away their transition and perhaps the biggest thing is that we need to get more post touches for ourselves," Kerkhoff said about Monday's game.