LEBANON, Ill. – After winning back-to-back conference games at home last weekend, the UIndy women's basketball team was back in action Thursday night. McKendree, winners of two of their last three, gave the Hounds all they wanted on Thursday night with the Bearcats ending the Hounds two-game winning streak, 58-51.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Emma Benoit led the UIndy charge early on, scoring all six of the team's first six points. Both teams struggled early on from the field, UIndy was held to just 21% from the field in the opening frame while holding McKendree to 35% from the floor. McKendree opened up the second quarter by scoring a quick five points to push their lead up to nine. Alexa Bailey got things going for UIndy by hitting a pair of three's to get the Hounds back within a couple of possessions of the Bearcats. Laura Thomas joined Bailey and Benoit as the only Greyhounds to score, scoring four points in the quarter and we went to half with UIndy trailing McKendree by five.
 
McKendree opened up the second half by extending their lead to double digits, leading by as much as 12 before UIndy started to chip away at the Bearcat lead. Benoit stepped outside of the paint for some easy jumpers and the reserves came up big on both sides of the ball for the Greyhounds. UIndy cut the lead down to five at one point but went into the final quarter down by eight. Taylor Drury got things started for the Hounds in the fourth quarter by nailing a triple then Laura Thomas hit a pair of free throws to trail by just three with seven minutes to go. McKendree got the Greyhounds out of place defensively down low and took advantage of their opportunities, pushing their lead to eight. UIndy led a late surge with just under a minute to go but came up short, falling 58-51.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-Emma Benoit recorded her second double-double in just the last three games, tallying 21 points on nine-for-13 shooting and grabbing 12 rebounds. Benoit led all scorers and rebounders as UIndy won the rebounding battle yet again.
-UIndy struggled to get going from deep, their three-of-12 shooting from deep was the least amount of threes made in a game since only hitting one triple against Ashland last month.
-Four of UIndy's five starters played 28 minutes or more in tonight's game. Laura Thomas played a total of 39 minutes for the second time this season, tying her career-high for minutes played.
 
HOUND BYTES
Greyhounds coach Kristin Wodrich on the team's loss, "we got good looks on a lot of our shots and we just missed some shots we do not usually miss. They were aggressive to start the game, they took us out of some sets and it affected our offense. We just did not shoot well tonight and we turned it over too much. We rebounded really well and I was proud of that and we kept fighting until the end and that was really important."
 
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds are back in action this Saturday when they travel up to Illinois Springfield to face the Prairie Stars at 2 p.m. ET.