LEBANON, Ill. – McKendree University women's basketball was outscored 21-8 in the first quarter against Southwest Baptist as they dropped a 76-46 decision in Great Lakes Valley Conference action here Monday afternoon in the "Battle of the Bearcats" at Melvin Price Convocation Center on the McKendree campus.
 
With the setback, McKendree dropped its third straight game as they fell to 3-16 overall and 2-10 in the GLVC, while Southwest Baptist improved to 12-10 overall and 7-7 in the league.
 
For the fourth consecutive game and eighth time the season, second-year freshman guard Clare Breden (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville Community) led the way offensively for McKendree as she scored 13 points and added five boards, while redshirt senior guard Sydney Diekhoff (Pekin, Ill./Pekin Community) added 10 points to push her within three points of 1,200 career points.
 
Two other Bearcats just missed double figures as junior guard Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln) added nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds and sophomore guard Erin Golden (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) chipped in with eight points.
 
Those four players combined 40 of McKendree's 46 points in the game.
 
For the game, McKendree finished the game shooting 28 percent from the field and was just 1-for-8 (12.5 percent) from the 3-point line. McKendree collected 37 rebounds on the day but committed 19 turnovers that led 21 points for SBU.
 
While McKendree struggled shooting the ball, the Bearcats of SBU finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line as SBU made eight treys, including making five of those treys in the first half.
 
Kyleigh Vaught led the way for SBU with 14 points, while Mary Rose Foster added 12 points and six rebounds. Emma Perry and Rachel Tippens each scored nine points off the bench as SBU's bench outscored McKendree's, 30-2 in the contest.
 
Over its last three games, McKendree has allowed a total of 74 points in the first quarter as along with the 21 points on Monday from SBU, Rockhurst scored 30 points in Saturday's game and Truman State scored 23 points in the first quarter on Jan. 29.
 
McKendree held a lead in the game, but they did manage a tie just about two minutes into game thanks to lay-up by Breden, which came almost a minute after Nyah Pettus scored the first basket of the game for SBU.
 
Following Breden's basket, SBU would score 14 of the next 16 points to push out to a 16-4 lead just seven minutes into the game. Froebe, though, would stop SBU's run with a lay-up with 2:53 left in the opening quarter, but SBU would close the quarter on a 5-2 run to hold a 21-8 lead.
 
SBU was 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) from the field, including going 3-for-6 (50 percent) from the 3-point line, while McKendree was 4-for-13 (31 percent) from the field and 0-for-3 from long distance.
 
After being outscored by 13 points in the first quarter, McKendree won the second quarter, 13-12 to cut SBU's lead to 33-21 at the half. McKendree won the quarter despite shooting just 14 percent (2-for-14) from the field but was 8-for-8 at the line as Froebe, Diekhoff, Golden and senior guard Jenna Krause (Seymour, Wis./Seymour) each went 2-for-2 from the line in the quarter.
 
SBU would win the third quarter as they outscored McKendree, 16-10, to hold a 49-31 lead heading into the final quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter, the two teams would combine for a total of 42 points as SBU outscored McKendree, 27-15 in the quarter. SBU opened the quarter by scoring 15 of the first 19 points to push put to a 64-35 lead following two free throws by Vaught with 5:24 left in the game.
 
McKendree, though, would score seven of the next nine points capped by a lay-up and free throw to cap a 3-point play by Froebe with 3:19 left to cut SBU's lead to 66-42.
 
SBU would close the game by scoring 10 of the final 14 points, including Tippens scoring on a lay-up with 13 seconds left to give SBU a 30-point lead at 76-36. That would be the largest lead of the game for SBU.
 
While McKendree collected 37 rebounds, SBU had 38 rebounds and dished out 17 assists and collected 10 steals in the win.
 
McKendree continued to be strong at the free throw line as they went 11-for-13 (84.6 percent) from the line and have now made 101 of its last 126 (80.2 percent) free throws.
 
The Bearcats of McKendree will return to action this coming Thursday, Feb. 10 as they travel to Rolla, Mo., for a 5:30 p.m. game against Missouri S&T (7-12 overall, 4-9 GLVC).