SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars (3-2, 0-1) nearly began the conference season with the biggest win in program history, falling to #5 Bellarmine 66-63. Syerra Cunningham tied the UIS single-game rebounding mark, bringing in 19 boards in the losing effort. Shelbi Patterson led all scorers with an 18 point effort, adding eight rebounds.

The Prairie Stars, especially junior guard Caroline Kelty, did not come out scored against the top-ranked school in the GLVC, as UIS jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first three minutes, all from the hand of Kelty. The UIS lead grew to 11-2 with 4:08 remaining in the quarter before Bellarmine closed the quarter on a 12-1 run to take a 14-12 lead after ten minutes.

UIS went on to trail by as much as 11 in the second quarter before cutting the deficit to just five with 42 seconds remaining. UIS missed a jump shot with under 10 seconds to go in the half and Bellarmine turned that into two points at the buzzer to take a 34-27 lead.
In the third, the Knights grew the lead to 14 points with 4:03 remaining before Destiny Ramsey and Tehya Fortune hit four consecutive free throws to cut the deficit to 10 where it would stay for the rest of the quarter.

Down 56-46, UIS scored the first six points on the final quarter, capped by an old-fashioned three point play by Patterson. With 2:59 remaining, Cunningham connected on two free throws before Patterson took a pass from Fortune off a steal and cut the deficit to just one with 2:45 remaining on the fifth ranked team in the nation.

With just 15 seconds remaining, UIS trailed by three and Fortune got a decent look off a rebound at a game-tying three, by wasn't able to connect as UIS fell 66-63.

Cunningham matched her own record, grabbing 19 rebounds in the conference opener, in a stat which she already led the entire conference. Along with the 19 boards, Cunningham netted 11 points, collecting her fourth double-double in five games.

Patterson had a game-high 18 points, which is her highest point total since she had 20 on November 24^th of 2014 during her freshman campaign. Kelty ended with 13 points after her hot start while Ramsey filled the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and two steals.

UIS will take the floor again on Saturday at 1:00 pm as they host Southern Indiana who are now 6-1, 1-0 on the season after a 66-40 win at McKendree.