University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) women's basketball junior
Myka Roth provided a career-high of 14 points during Thursday's Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opener against Maryville University in St. Louis.
Maryville (4-2, 1-0) earned a 74-64 victory against UIS (1-4, 0-1). The Saints outscored the Prairie Stars 16-6 in the first quarter and held a 33-20 lead at halftime.
UIS cut the lead to 53-44 after three quarters. During the fourth quarter, the Prairie Stars trimmed their deficit to three points before Maryville pulled away.
"We made some positive steps in the second half and got it to a one-possession game," UIS coach
Mark Kost said. "We can build on that as we moved forward."
Lauren Ladowski led the Prairie Stars with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. The freshman from St. John, Ind. converted 7-of-9 shots (77.8 percent) from the free-throw line.
Tehya Fortune notched 12 points.
Jasmine Sangster tallied eight points,
Val Meissner recorded seven points,
Ellie Mitchell scored four points and
Lanie Hicks rounded out the UIS scoring effort with two points.
Fortune is tied for seventh in UIS Division II history with 76 career steals.
Mary Barton paced the Saints with 20 points and seven assists. She hit 7-of-10 (70 percent) shots from the field.
Stephanie Sherwood contributed 17 points and blocked three shots. Abby Monis added 12 points and a team-high six rebounds. Kayla Steward dished out six assists.
The Prairie Stars turned the ball over 21 times while the Saints committed 15 turnovers. Maryville held an 18-10 advantage on fast-break points.
The Saints outrebounded the Prairie Stars 40-35.
Maryville knocked down 28-of-64 (43.8 percent) shots from the floor and 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) attempts from 3-point range. The Prairie Stars drained 21-of-55 (38.2 percent) attempts from the field and 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) shots from the perimeter.
UIS made 16-of-22 (72.7 percent) shots from the free-throw line while Maryville sank 13-of-20 (65 percent) shots from the charity stripe.
The Prairie Stars battle the University of Missouri-St. Louis (3-4, 0-1) in a GLVC matchup on Saturday at 1 p.m. in St. Louis.
