LEBANON, Ill. – Second-year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) scored a team-high 17 points and added five rebounds, but Rockhurst University outscored McKendree University 53-25 in the first half en route to posting an 88-58 win over the Bearcats in Great Lakes Valley Conference women's basketball action Saturday evening at the Melvin Price Convocation Center.
 
With the setback, McKendree falls to 3-15 overall and 2-9 in the GLVC, while Rockhurst improved to 11-8 overall and 7-6 in the league.
 
Along with Breden's 17-point effort, which was her team-leading 12th double-digit scoring game of the season, sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) added 11 and 10 points respectively in dropping its second straight game. With her 10 points, Diekhoff pushed her career scoring total to 1,187 points.
 
McKendree's leading scorer, sophomore guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) was held to seven points, but she did pull down a team-high six rebounds before suffering an injury late in the game. Fortune entered the game averaging 12.1 points per game on the season.
 
The Bearcats offense struggled in Saturday's game as they were held to 34 percent shooting from the field and 30 percent (6-for-20) from the 3-point line. In addition, the Bearcats were 14-for-22 (64 percent) from the free throw line.
 
While McKendree's offense struggled, Rockhurst's offense finished the game shooting 55 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line as the Hawks made 11 treys in the game, including hitting nine of those 11 treys in the first half in helping the Hawks to its 53 points.
 
The Hawks also won the rebounding battle, 41-31, but McKendree won the turnover battle, 13-12, but the Bearcats' 12 turnovers turned into 17 points for Hawks.
 
Allison McFarren paced four Rockhurst players in double figures as she tallied a game-high 19 points, including hitting four 3-pointers. In addition to McFarren, Keegan Sullivan added 11 points and eight boards, while Daly Sullivan and Meghan Urbanski each added 10 points in the win for Rockhurst.
 
Rockhurst got things started going early in the Saturday's contest as they jumped in front 16-3 just five-plus minutes into the game. Fortune would stop the Rockhurst run with a 3-pointer with 4:02 left in the first quarter to pull the Bearcats within 16-6.
 
The Hawks would then close the opening half on a 14-4 run to take a 30-10 lead just 10 minutes into the game. The 30 points were the most allowed this season by the Bearcats in a quarter.
 
Rockhurst opened the game making 12 of its first 18 shots and five of its first seven 3-pointers in the opening quarter.
The Bearcats would open the second quarter on a 9-7 run to drop Rockhurst's lead to 37-19 following 1-of-2 free throws by Golden with 4:06 left in the quarter. The missed free throw snapped a streak of 21 consecutive made free throws for Golden that had dated to the Lewis game in early December.
 
Rockhurst, though, would respond with a 16-4 run over the next four minutes to push its lead to 53-23 following two free throws by McFarren with 20 seconds left in the quarter. Breden would cap the first half scoring by hitting two free throws with 13 seconds left to give the Hawks its 53-25 halftime lead.
 
The Hawks would extend its 28-point halftime lead to 33 points following a lay-up by Reagan Dodd just 2:23 into the third quarter to give Rockhurst a 61-28 lead.
 
McKendree would respond with a 9-3 run keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers by Diekhoff and Fortune and capped by a lay-up from Breden to drop Rockhurst's lead to 64-37 with 3:07 left in the quarter. Rockhurst would close the quarter scoring seven of the final 11 points to hold a 71-41 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Rockhurst outscored McKendree, 18-16, in the quarter.
 
The Bearcats would score the first five points of the fourth quarter to pull within 71-46, but the Hawks responded with a 15-4 run to push its lead to 86-50 following two free throws by Michele Origliasso with 1:38 left in the game.
 
McKendree would close the game by scoring eight of the final 10 points, including Golden drilling a trey with 31 seconds left to cap the scoring. In addition to Golden's trey, the other five points came on a trey from Breden and two free throws by senior guard Jenna Krause (Seymour, Wis./Seymour).
 
Along with Fortune's six rebounds, Krause also pulled down six boards and had a game-high tying four assists. Senior guard Haley Zylka (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) also added four assists for the Bearcats.
 
Rockhurst held a 5-1 edge in blocked shots and had 17 assists on the game. McKendree finished with 12 assists and had five steals.
 
The Bearcats will look to snap its two-game losing skid as they conclude its homestand with a 1 p.m. game on Monday, Feb. 7 against Southwest Baptist. SBU fell to 11-10 overall and 6-7 in the GLVC following its 75-57 loss on Saturday at UMSL.