ST. LOUIS, Mo. – McKendree University women's basketball concluded its 2021-22 season here Monday evening with a 76-50 setback to 25th-ranked and No. 3 seeded Missouri-St. Louis in a first round game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women's Basketball Tournament game at the Mark Twain Building on the UMSL campus.
 
With the loss, McKendree closes the season with a 3-23 record, while UMSL improves 22-4 and advances to face No. 6 seed Illinois-Springfield in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Friday, March 4 at 2:30 p.m. at First Community Arena on the campus of SIU Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Ill.
 
Monday's game was the second straight for the Bearcats against the Tritons as the two teams concluded the regular season on Saturday at UMSL. UMSL won that meeting, 84-54.
 
In Monday's rematch, the Bearcats were led offensively by senior guard Jenna Krause (Seymour, Wis./Seymour) and redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) as both players scored 10 points in their final collegiate games. In addition to Krause and Diekhoff, second year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) and sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) each scored nine points in the loss.
 
With her 10 points, Diekhoff closes her collegiate career with 1,269 points, which is 10th on the school's all-time scoring chart, while also finishing third on the school's all-time list for career 3-pointers made (174) and sixth in career free throws made with 307.
 
Krause closed out her collegiate career with 664 points, 202 rebounds, 156 assists and 90 steals and made 211 career free throws, including going 39-44 from the line during the 2021-22 season.
 
The Bearcats were outrebounded, 35-17 in the game and committed 17 turnovers that led to 22 UMSL points. The Tritons also collected 18 offensive rebounds that led to 15 second chance points. UMSL had eight turnovers in the game.
 
UMSL never trailed in the game and the game was tied just once at 2-2 following a lay-up from senior guard Haley Zylka (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) just 37 seconds into the contest.
 
Following Zylka's lay-up, the Tritons used a 16-7 run to push out to an 18-9 lead with 1:38 left in the opening quarter. Freshman guard Morgan Nettles (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) would stop the run with two free throws with 1:18 left to drop UMSL's lead to 18-11 after the first 10 minutes of action.
 
UMSL would push its lead to 12 points just 68 seconds into the second quarter, before the Bearcats used an 8-5 run to pull within nine at 28-19 following a basket by Zylka with 6:01 left in the quarter. That would be as close as the game would get, though, as UMSL closed the quarter on a 12-5 run to take a 40-24 lead at the half.
 
The Tritons shot 53 percent from the field in the first half, including shooting 67 percent from the floor in the second quarter as they outscored the Bearcats, 22-13.
 
UMSL would open the third quarter on a 15-4 run to extend its lead to 55-28 with 1:59 left in the period. The Bearcats would close the quarter by scoring by scoring five of the final seven points to drop UMSL's lead to 57-33 after three quarters.
 
McKendree would open the final quarter on an 8-4 run to cut UMSL's lead to 61-41. The run was aided by four points from Krause, who scored eight of her 10 points after halftime.
 
Following the Bearcats' run, UMSL would score 11 of the next 18 points to push its lead to 72-48 with 2:43 remaining. Two Krause free throws stopped the run, before Taylor Thompson scored the final four points of the game to cap the scoring.
 
Alex LaPorta led three Tritons in double figures with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Jalysa Stokes added 13 points and Kiara Stewart added 12 points and nine rebounds in the win. Mallory Ronshausen and Danielle Berry each had nine points.
 
For the game, McKendree shot 41 percent from the field and 25 percent from the 3-point line, while UMSL shot 51 percent from the field and 21 percent from long distance.
 
The Bearcats were strong at the free throw line as they finished the game 17-for-18 (94 percent) at the line, while UMSL was 13-for-21 (62 percent) at the line.
 
Along with Krause, Diekkoff and Zylka, senior guard Madison Jones (Abingdon, Ill./Lincoln Land CC) and junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) played their final games as Bearcats in Monday's game against UMSL.