LEBANON, Ill. - Sophomore Syerra Cunningham (Beach Park, Ill.) scored a career-high 20 points to help the University of Illinois Springfield women's basketball team to a 56-46 win against the McKendree Bearcats Thursday evening at the Statham Center.

UIS (6-20, 2-16 GLVC) pulled away late in what was a close game from the opening whistle. The game featured six ties and seven lead changes as neither team led by more than five points until the final two mintues of the game.

Cunningham finished with 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field with nine rebounds. Sophomore Caroline Kelty (River Forest, Ill.) was the only other UIS player with more than eight points as she finished with 11. She also added 11 rebounds. In her final game as a Prairie Star, senior Cassie Wolfe (Plainfield, Ill.) chipped in with six points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Prairie Stars used a 7-0 run in the early minutes of the game to take a 9-5 lead. Junior Meredith Marti (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored five of her seven points during the run. UIS held onto the lead for 14 minutes of the first period, but the Bearcats used 12 UIS turnovers to take the lead back, 24-23, going into the break.

Syerra Cunningham got things going in the second half, scoring six of the team's first 11 points in the period, including a jumper at the 15:24 minute-mark to give UIS a 34-32 advantage. The teams traded buckets and the hosts tied the game at 38 on a bucket from McKendree's Emily Pusheck and then again at 42 on a jumper from Caty Ponce.

Freshman Shelbi Patterson (Indianapolis, Ind.) gave the Prairie Stars the lead with an old fashioned three-point play, kickstarting a 14-4 run over the final 6:30 of the game. UIS iced the game away from the free throw line to capture the 56-46 victory.

UIS held the Bearcats to just 26.5 percent shooting in the second half.