The University of Illinois Springfield women's basketball team had its best defensive performance of the season on Thursday night at TRAC. That led the Prairie Stars to a 61-43 victory over Quincy.
 
UIS allowed a season-low in points by forcing 21 turnovers and holding the Hawks to just 35.2 percent shooting from the field. Offensively, the Prairie Stars made five more field goals, and connected on 11-of-13 free-throw attempts.
 
The Prairie Stars never trailed, but had just a five-point lead midway through the third quarter. UIS went on an 11-0 run though to pull back ahead, and then held Quincy to just four-of-16 shooting in the final 10 minutes of the game.
 
UIS received 16 points from Lauren Ladowski, and 12 from Malea Jackson. Ellie Mitchell finished with nine points, Ally Gietzel had eight, and Olivia Travis and Olivia Stephens both scored six. Travis had a team-high seven rebounds and two blocks. Stephens collected three steals, and Mitchell and Stephens both had two assists.
 
The Prairie Stars tied two NCAA era records with their 13th overall win and fifth win in a row. UIS is now 13-6 overall and 8-5 in conference play.