ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – McKendree University women's basketball began the final week of the 2021-22 Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season here Monday evening by hitting nine 3-pointers, shooting a season high 53 percent from the field and scored 74 points en route to suffering a hard-fought 85-74 setback to Lewis University at Neil Carey Arena on the Lewis campus.

The 74 points were a season high for the Bearcats in a GLVC game and the most scored by McKendree in a game since tallying 63 points at Truman State on Jan. 29. That 63 points was the previous season high for the Bearcats in GLVC play this season. In fact, it was just the second time this season that McKendree scored over 70 points in a game as they tallied a season-high 90 points in a 90-70 win over Blackburn College on Nov. 23.

McKendree falls to 3-20 overall and 2-14 in the GLVC, while Lewis improved to 13-12 overall and 11-6 in the league. The loss was the seventh straight for the Bearcats.

The Bearcats put four players in double figures in the game as senior guard Madison Jones (Abingdon, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) tallied 14 points, including hitting four treys, while redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) and sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) each scored 12 points and sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) added 10 points and six boards.

With her 12 points, Diekhoff moved within 25 points of tying for 10th in school history in career scoring with Katie Hasheider, who tallied 1,258 points from 2003-07. Diekhoff has now scored 1,233 points. In addition, she hit two treys to push her career total to 168 and she was 4-for-4 at the free throw line to push her career total to 301 free throws, which is sixth on the school's all-time chart.
 
While four Bearcats scored in double figures against the Flyers, one player didn't score in double figures was second year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) as the Bearcats' No. 2 scorer this season finished with four points as she battled foul trouble most of the night. Breden entered the game averaging 11.6 points per game.

After trailing by as much as 18 at 57-39 with a little more than five minutes left in the third quarter, the Bearcats closed the quarter on a 14-7 run to pull within 64-53 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game. The third quarter closing run was capped by back-to-back treys from Fortune and Diekhoff.

The Bearcats would turn the ball over on its first two possessions of the fourth quarter and two turnovers keyed a 5-2 run by the Flyers to push out to a 69-55 lead following a trey by Grace Hilber with 8:38 left in the game.

McKendree, though, wouldn't go away as they responded with an 11-3 run to pull within six at 72-66 following two free throws by Fortune with 4:20 left. The run began with a trey from Jones ended with the Bearcats making six consecutive free throws.

Following Fortune's two free throws, Tara Gugliuzza drilled a trey with 4:03 left in the game to give Lewis a 75-66 lead and the lead grew to 77-66 following two free throws by Kathryn Schmidt with 3:01 remaining.
 
Two free throws by Breden and 1-of-2 free throws by Fortune with 2:05 dropped Lewis' lead to 77-69, but that would be as close as the Bearcats would get as the Flyers used an 8-3 run to push in front 85-72 with 40 seconds left. Breden would cap the scoring on her lay-up with 30 seconds left.
 
McKendree outscore Lewis, 40-37 in the second half.
 
Schmidt paced five Lewis players in double figures as she tallied 16 points, while Hilber added 15 points and Lauren Ramsey tallied 11 points off the bench. Lily Courier and Ryann Ogarek each scored 10 points in the win.
 
McKendree opened the game by scoring eight of the first 12 points to hold an 8-4 lead just four minutes into the contest, but the Flyers would respond by closing the first quarter on a 19-9 run to lead 23-17 after the first 10 minutes.
 
The Bearcats opened the second quarter on a 7-6 run to pull within 29-24 following a lay-up by Diekhoff with 6:36 left in the quarter. Lewis, though, used a 13-4 run to push out to a 42-28 lead.
 
Jones would stop the Flyers' run with a trey with 1:49 left in the quarter, before Lewis would close the quarter on a 6-3 run to give Lewis its 48-34 halftime lead.
 
The Bearcats shot a season high 53 percent (24-for-45) from the field and shot 47 percent (9-for-19) from the 3-point line. In addition, McKendree was 17-for-20 (85 percent) from the free throw line in the game.
 
Meanwhile, Lewis shot 44 percent from the field, but was just 9-for-29 (31 percent) from the 3-point line and made 18 of its 24 free throws as they shot 75 percent at the line.
 
Lewis held a 31-28 advantage on the boards, including 14 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second chance points. junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) and Fortune each had six boards, while senior guard Jenna Krause (Seymour, Wis./Seymour) added five boards and nine points for the Bearcats.
 
The Flyers' win was keyed by 20 Bearcat turnovers that led to 21 points, while Lewis committed 10 turnovers that led to 10 Bearcat points. Lewis also had 11 steals and 16 assists.
 
McKendree will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 23 as they host Lindenwood for a 5:30 p.m. game at the Melvin Price Convocation Center. The game was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but was postponed due to a winter storm that hit the Metro East last week.