Yesterday the UIS women’s basketball team faced off against Saint Joseph’s, and despite mounting a comeback in the second half, failed to come away with the win.

The final score was 73-67 in favor of the Pumas, outscoring the Prairie Stars by three points in each half. Saint Joseph’s leading scorer in the first half was Jasmyne Reynolds, senior guard, who mixed it up down low and set effective screens to free herself up on the perimeter, scoring 13 points, with 2 coming from the free-throw line, and knocking down a 3-pointer.

After halftime, adjustments were made to clamp down on Reynolds. Sophomore guard Courtney Kvachkoff shouldered the scoring load in the second half, adding four more 3-pointers to her total. She ended the game with 25 points, converting on 7 of 10 of her shots from behind the arc. Coach Chad Oletzke described Reynolds as “a huge mismatch.”

In the first half UIS shot only 40 percent from the field, and allowed the Pumas to shoot 56.5 percent from the field and drain 6 out of 10 3-pointers, compared to the Prairie Stars’ four makes on 13 attempts. Despite their shooting inefficiency, UIS trailed by only three points at the end of the half, in large measure to their seven forced turnovers and 13 points as a direct result of their opponent’s miscues. The sheer quantity of shots taken by the Prairie Stars in the first, 62 shots total, was enough to stay in the fight, as Saint Joseph’s totaled 50 attempts in the first.

From the start of the second half it was evident that UIS was dedicated to stopping scorers in the paint, as they switched to a zone defensive scheme designed to do just that. Unfortunately, zoning up allows perimeter shooters more time to get their shots off, and no one could get their hand in the face of Kvachkoff, who was camped in the corners and making 3s all game long.

Junior guard Courtney Knuckles, who made a valiant late run, knocking down 4 second half 3-pointers, but was simply not quite enough to get it done.

When asked about the perimeter shooting, Coach Oletzke noted, “You’ve gotta give credit to Saint Joe’s, we had a couple of defensive busts, not a ton, that we gave them a couple shots, and they knocked those shots down, and that’s what the game comes down to.”

The Prairie Stars saw their second half shooting efficiency in all facets rise, from the field, from deep, and from the free throw line, but were unable to limit their turnovers.

After allowing only one point off of turnovers in the first, they turned the ball over 11 times and allowed 17 points to be scored as a result.

The team travels to Evansville, Indiana for their next game on Jan. 30.