CARBONDALE, Ill. – McKendree University women's basketball capped its two-game exhibition slate here Saturday afternoon by suffering a 92-57 setback to Southern Illinois at the Banterra Center on the SIU campus.
 
Saturday's exhibition game was the second in 48 hours for the Bearcats as they played an exhibition on Thursday in Peoria, Ill., against Bradley. In that game, the Bearcats lead for almost the entire first half before ultimately falling to the Braves, 71-60.
 
Leading the way for the Bearcats was junior forward Naomi McDaniel (Attica, Ind./Parkland CC) as she tallied 12 points and added nine rebounds in the game. In the two exhibition games, McDaniel averaged 11.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game as she tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds against Bradley.
 
In addition to McDaniel, redshirt freshman guard Maci Meyer (Hubertus, Wis./Hartford) added 10 points off the bench, while sophomore guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) chipped in with eight points. Freshman forward Alyssa Powell (Troy, Ill./Alton Marquette Catholic) and junior forward Kristyn Mitchell (Collinsville, Ill./Illinois Central College) each scored seven points off the bench for the Bearcats.
 
SIU, who is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, opened the game by scoring the first six points and led by as much as nine points at 16-7 just a little over five minutes into the contest. The Bearcats, though, responded with an 8-2 run capped by three straight points from Meyer to pull within 18-15 with 52 seconds left in the opening quarter. The Salukis, though, pushed its lead to 21-15 after one quarter following a trey from Aja Holmes.
 
The Salukis would outscore the Bearcats, 50-28 over the next two quarters, to take a 71-43 after three quarters. At the half, SIU led, 42-31.
 
SIU's lead would grow to as much as 37 points 88-51 with 3:45 left in the game, before the Bearcats would score six of the final 10 points to set the final margin. In the fourth quarter, SIU outscored the Bearcats, 21-14.
 
For the game, McKendree shot 37 percent from the field, but was just 2-for-9 (22.2 percent) from the 3-point line, while SIU shot 53 percent from the field and was 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from the 3-point line.
 
Five Salukis scored in double figures in the exhibition game as Laniah Randle and Ashley Jones each scored 13 points, while Quierra Love and Tyranny Brown each had 11 points and Promise Taylor scored 10 points in the win.
 
SIU outrebounded the Bearcats, 40-34 as Taylor pulled down eight rebounds in the game to pace the Salukis and SIU took advantage of 24 McKendree turnovers in the game as they scored 37 off those turnovers.
 
The Salukis also held a 21-3 edge in fast break points and dominated the scoring in the paint, 60-28.
 
McKendree drew 22 fouls in the game and shot 29 free throws to just 14 by SIU. For the game, McK was 17-for-29 (58.6 percent) from the free throw line and they shot a combined 26-for-46 (56.5 percent) from the line its two exhibition contests. SIU was 7-for-14 (50 percent) from the line in the game.
 
With the exhibition games completed, the Bearcats will turn their attention to the regular season as they begin the season by playing two games next weekend (Nov. 11-12) at the Midwest Region Crossover hosted by Tiffin University. At the event, the Bearcats will open with a 6 p.m. ET game on Nov. 11 against Tiffin and then concludes the weekend with a 7 p.m. ET game on Nov. 12 against Purdue Northwest.