JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis women's basketball team gave Indiana University Northwest all it could handle before dropping a 71-68 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest on Saturday afternoon.

With USF leading by a 25-18 count early in the second quarter, Indiana Northwest (16-4, 9-3 CCAC) scored 13 of the next 18 points of the frame to take a 31-30 lead.  The RedHawks would add a cushion of four more points before the completion of the first half to take a five-point advantage (37-32) into the locker room.   

Indiana Northwest returned to the floor after the intermission, increasing its lead to as high as eight points before a 14-6 scoring surge enabled the Saints to knot the score at 48-all.  Just as quickly as the Saints (16-4, 9-3) charged forward, IUN returned the favor with a 9-0 run of its own to flip the score back to its side and go up 57-48 early in the final frame. 

The Saints would get to within one point twice over the game's remaining minutes, but the RedHawks would extend the lead back to nine points (69-60) at the 2:07 mark.  Tykara Harrison would connect for five points, followed by an Abby Shepard three-pointer over the Saints' next four possessions, but St. Francis still found itself down three points (71-68) with 10 seconds to go on its last possession.  A final long-range attempt would come up short for the Saints, allowing the RedHawks to claim the victory.

St. Francis struggled to find its offensive game on the afternoon, converting at just a .355 rate (22-of-62) compared to IUN's .483 showing (29-of-60).  The Saints were able to stay in the contest with its long-range success of 10 three-pointers to the RedHawks' five.  USF also made all but two of its 16 free throw attempts in the game (.875), giving it a six-point advantage over IUN's 8-of-12 mark.

Harrison again led St. Francis with 19 markers to go along with five rebounds and three steals.   Le'lani Harris was the only other Saint in double figures with 15 points and five boards.

Other USF contributors included Shepard (9 points, 2 rebounds) and Baylei Johnson (8 rebounds, 6 points).

Indiana Northwest's Jessica Carrothers led all scorers with her 29 points.  She was one of three RedHawks to total at least ten points.

Up Next
The Saints will take the court again on Wednesday (Jan. 29) when they host Indiana University South Bend in a 5 pm CCAC contest at the Pat Sullivan Center.

You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.