Women Stars could not stop Saints offense

Not only was it a white out outside, but also inside TRAC as UIS basketball held its annual white out game Thursday night. Prairie Star fans braved the weather and dressed in all white to show support for their team.

The Prairie Stars got to an early lead but could not keep it as the Saints of Maryville went on a 21-5 run. On a dry spell, the Stars took shot after shot but could not make any. The Stars did not guard well in the first half especially on the perimeter as the Saints made 3-pointer after 3-pointer. The Saints would extend their lead to as much as 17 points over the Stars. At the end of the first half the Stars closed the gap to 14 making the score at half time UIS 22 to Maryville 36. There was no energy or passion in the first half by the Stars, they needed to find a way to get fired up and make their shots.

Junior Megan Bergerud led the Stars’ offense with nine points and shooting three of four on the perimeter.

The second half started looking as though the Stars had found that fire they needed as junior Mallory Beck made a jump shot and freshman Meredith Marti made a 3-pointer to cut Maryville’s lead to nine points. However, the Stars could not stop the Saints offense as the Saints answered back with 11 points of their own to increase their lead to 20. After that the Saints remained in control of the game as they continued to increase their lead to 30 points.

A late game surge by the Stars just was not enough to win the game as Saints finished out the game with a final score 66-50.

Marti led the team with 13 points, three steals and pulled in four rebounds. Junior Elizabeth Kelly had 10 points of her own along with seven rebounds.

The Stars just could not find a way to stop Maryville’s offense and did not play with any energy or fire until it was too late in the game. The Stars shot 30 percent for night while making eight steals for night.

“Not very good,” commented head coach Chad Oletzke about the game “It’s obviously not the outcome we were wanting. But it’s been hard after the last game which knocked us out of the conference tournament.” Oletzke also said the team needs to learn how to play at a higher, more competitive level.

Prairie Stars win last away game of the year

In their last away game of the season the Prairie Stars won by 10 points over the Tritons of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, 77-63.

After the loss on Thursday night, the Stars looked to finish out their season strong. The games against the Tritons started off slow for the Stars as they trailed the Tritons 13-4. However it would not stay that way for long as senior Ashley Coffey scored five points in a row to trail the Tritons by only one point with just a little more than nine minutes remaining in the half. UMSL answered back by increasing their lead to nine points, but UIS scored six points to close the gap to three going into halftime.

The second half started off great for the Stars as junior Megan Bergerud gave the lead to UIS by scoring five points in a row. With 13 minutes remaining in the game, sophomore Carly Goede made a 3-pointer to give UIS a five point lead, the largest for UIS so far in the game. With just under seven minutes of game time remaining Bergerud drained a 3-pointer after receiving the ball from junior Alyssa Palmer. Palmer made a steal and a layup that gave the Stars their first double-digit lead of the game with just four minutes remaining. The Stars would keep their lead as they finished out the game to claim a victory of UMSL.

Bergerud lead the Stars offense with 21 points and shooting 8-12 from the field. Palmer had 13 points of her own along with four rebounds and four assists. Coffey added 10 points and pulled in three rebounds.

The Stars return home for their last game of the season for senior night against Quincy University. The game is set for 5:30 p.m. at TRAC.