SPRINGFIELD, IL - Freshman Chasitee Shroyer (Freeport, Ill.) and sophomore Shelbi Patterson (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored 13 points each to lead the University of Illinois Springfield women's basketball team to a 58-43 win against Principia Tuesday night at the Recreation and Athletic Center.

The Prairie Stars improve to 2-1 on the season and are winners of their last two. Head coach Mark Kost is now 1-0 in his UIS career at TRAC.

Shroyer finished with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with a pair of steals. The freshman guard knocked down a game-high three triples to help the Prairie Stars pull away down the stretch. Sophomore guard Shelbi Patterson also netter 13 points on the evening. The Indianaplis-native played the role of scorer and giver against Principia as she also dished out a game-high seven assists. Junior Chelsea Cross was the third UIS player to score in double figures. She was nearly perfect from the floor, going 5-for-6 for 10 points, six rebounds, two blocks and three steals.

The Prairie Stars stifled Principia for most of Tuesday's game, allowing just seven points in the opening period and 15 points in the first half. Junior Caroline Kelty (River Forest, Ill.) led the charge for the hosts in the early going. She knocked down a pair of buckets in the first two minutes of play to help UIS take a 6-0 lead at the 8:03 minute-mark.

Later in the quarter, Patterson scored her first points of the game on a jumper with just over two minutes left in the period. It was the final points of the first quarter as UIS took a 12-7 lead into the second. Shroyer got the Prairie Stars going with a three pointer to open the second quarter and then followed that up with a steal and a layup to push the UIS lead to 10, 17-7. A three pointer from senior Morgan Knorr (Savannah, Mo.) gave the Prairie Stars a 13 point lead and they never looked back. Back-to-back buckets from Cross gave the hosts a 16 point advantage, which they took into the half, 31-15.

UIS shot 37 percent from the floor in the first half but held Principia to just 24 percent. The Prairie Stars turned the Panthers over 13 times to just four giveaways for the hosts.

The second half began just like the first as the Prairie Stars extended their lead to as many 21, 39-18, with 5:09 left in the quarter. Principia's Kara Johnson scored a game-high 19 points and helped the visitors trim the deficit to 15, 39-24, with back-to-back layups. Johnson was 7-for-13 from the floor with six rebounds. Principia ended the quarter on a 6-0 run over 2:31 minute span to cut the deficit to just 13 heading into the final period.

UIS quickly pushed the lead back up to 20 as Shroyer converted another layup off of a steal and a three pointer to make the score 50-30. The Prairie Stars maintained their lead during the final minutes and eventually won by the score of 58-43.

The teams were even on the glass with 34 a-piece. Junior Syerra Cunningham (Beach Park, Ill.) led the Prairie Stars with eight boards while Principia's Sophie Hathaway finished with a double-double of 11 points and 15 rebounds.

UIS is back in action on Saturday, Nov. 21 against Lincoln (Mo.). Tip off is set for 2 p.m.