SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The University of Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars rode the 18-point effort from
Ashley McHenry to their first Great Lakes Valley Conference win of the season. UIS (6-8, 1-6) took a first half lead and stretch it to as much as 13 in the fourth quarter to take the victory over the Cardinals (6-11, 1-5)
Meredith Marti got things going with a three pointer to open the scoring for the Prairie Stars but the Cardinals combatted with a 7-0 run to take an early 9-3 lead. Down 12-5, the Prairie Stars went on a 10-3 run to tie the game at 15 before regaining the lead at 17-15.
A jumper from
Shelbi Patterson in the second quarter stretched the UIS lead to 27-19 with under two minutes remaining in the half but that was quickly cut into by the Cardinals as they scored five unanswered points to end the half down 27-24.
In the third quarter, the Cardinals took their first lead since the opening quarter after a layup pushed the score to 34-33 in their favor. On the next possession though, Patterson hit another three, giving the Prairie Stars a two point advantage over halfway through the quarter. This time around, the Prairie Stars would not relinquish the lead again, never trailing for the remainder of the game.
In the final quarter, a McHenry layup pushed the lead to ten for the first time before
Chelsea Cross eventually made the lead 13 with a jumper with less than three minutes to go.
Morgan Knorr finished off the victory with back-to-back free throws with 13 seconds to go, giving her seven points on the night.
In the end, the Prairie Stars collected their first win in the GLVC this season and first under head coach
Mark Kost. McHenry finished with a game-high 18 points and team high five assists while Patterson added 14 points and four assists. Marti hit two more three's to give her a team best 33 on the season while Cross grabbed 11 rebounds, coming up just one point shy of a double-double.
UIS will head back on the road next Thursday as they take on the University of Indianapolis before ending the road trip at Saint Joseph's on Saturday.
