A great defensive effort against one of the top offensive teams in the GLVC gave University of Illinois Springfield women's basketball head coach Casey Thousand her 100th career win. The Prairie Stars defeated Lindenwood on Tuesday night at TRAC by a 56-46 score.
 
Just one week ago, Lindenwood scored 83 points in a win over UIS, including 54 points in the paint. In this game, the Prairie Stars forced the Lions to beat them from the outside, and the visitors were unable to do it. UIS held Lindenwood to just 20.7 percent shooting from the field, including six-of-33 shooting from three-point range. Most importantly, the Prairie Stars allowed just 12 points inside the paint.
 
UIS gave up just five first-quarter points and 17 in the first half. That allowed it to build an eight-point lead at the break. Lindenwood had a good shooting quarter in the third, making five of its six three-pointers in that period, and it cut that lead to just 39-36 with 10 minutes left.
 
In the fourth, UIS stepped up again on the defensive side. Lindenwood was just two-of-17 from the field in the final quarter, including 0-for-12 from long distance. UIS had a 41-39 lead when Jalyn Harris was fouled with 6:17 remaining. She made the first free throw, but missed the second. Harris rebounded her own missed shot and followed it up with a layup. That sparked a 9-0 run that put the game away for the Prairie Stars.
 
Thousand won her 100th game in her ninth season as a head coach. From 2009-2016, she won 83 games at Edgewood, and she has now won 17 games at UIS. In just her second season in Springfield, she has led the Prairie Stars to their best season during their NCAA era as they are now 8-7 on the year.
 
Lauren Ladowski led UIS with 14 points, and Malea Jackson finished with 13. Liz Uhl came off the bench to score nine points on four-of-five shooting. Grace Weber pulled down nine rebounds, leading the Prairie Stars to outrebound the No. 1 rebounding team in the GLVC by a 41-36 margin. Ellie Mitchell, Ladowski, Jackson, and Makenna Fee all had five boards.
 
Olivia Travis, Mitchell, and Ladowski each had two assists, Fee blocked three shots, and Ladowski had a team-high three steals. Weber was one of four starters with a double-figure plus/minus in the game as she had a team-high +16. Mitchell finished with a +12 mark, and Travis and Ladowski were each +10.
 
UIS will be in action again on Saturday afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. game at TRAC against William Jewell.