LEBANON, Ill. - The women's basketball team visited the Statham Center on the campus of McKendree University on Saturday for their first road game of the season. The Panthers played the Bearcats to a draw at halftime, 28-28, but ran into a cold shooting spell in the fourth quarter in a 61-54 loss dropping them to 1-2 overall.
Junior
Jenna Falkenberg returned after missing the first two games due to illness and led the team with 17 points and nine rebounds in 30 mintes. She went 7-for-15 from the floor and 3-for-4 at the free throw line and also blocked two shots.
Martyna Pioro scored 15 points on 7-for-11 from the floor in 30 minutes. Davenport took the lead on three different occasions in the first quarter and there were also four ties. The Bearcats took an 18-14 lead after the quarter as Jordan Heberg was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three free throws to end the quarter.
McKendree began to increase their lead in the second quarter building a 26-17 advantage with 5:43 left until halftime. The Panthers then went on an 11-2 run to end the quarter as
Kenzie Wilkinson made a pair of free throws and
Toni Grace made a jumper with 1:16 left for the final points of the quarter.
McKendree jumped out again in the third quarter to a 40-32 lead as Heberg again was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three freebies. The game of runs continued as DU went on an 8-0 run to tie it up at 40. Falkenberg scored the last six points during the run. The Bearcats would then score six of the last seven points of the quarter to lead 48-43.
Davenport would shoot 4-for-19 from the floor including 0-for-7 behind the arc in the fourth quarter preventing the comeback win. DU trailed 52-50 with 5:28 remaining but then could not score until 49 seconds left on a Pioro basket. McKendree led 57-52 after that score by Pioro and then Heberg made two of four free throws and Sydney Diekhoff secured the win with a pair of free throws with eight seconds to go.
DU shot 41.1 percent for the game but were just 1-for-11 from the arc. They were 7-for-10 at the free throw line. McKendree shot 33.3 percent for the game including 4-for-18 behind the arc and 19-for-22 at the charity stripe. Diekhoff scored 19 points to lead the home team.
