QUINCY, IL---The Quincy University women's basketball team triumphed 51-48 over the McKendree University Bearcats in a tight GLVC matchup at the Melvin Price Convocation Center on Thursday (Jan 20) evening.

The Hawks were the first on the board, with Sarah Nelson landing a layup nine seconds into the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead. After that, not a single point was scored for two and a half minutes, which broke when Emma Knipe made a free throw to make the lead 3-0 with 7:21 remaining. The point droughts for both teams continued afterward, not stopping until Nelson scored with another layup, making the Hawks lead 5-2 with 4:02 remaining. The points became slightly more common from there, with another Nelson layup retaking the lead for the Hawks at 9-8 with 1:39 remaining. The Hawks stayed in the lead for the rest of the quarter, with two free throws from Knipe extending the lead to 11-8 when the buzzer sounded.

The second quarter also started slow, with Knipe breaking the drought making a layup to up the lead 13-10 with 8:41 remaining. The Hawks kept their lead going for the majority of the quarter, with a Grace Flanagan three-pointer breaking a tie to make the game 23-20. From there on it was smooth sailing for QU, with a layup and a free-throw from Regan Laconte pushing the lead to 26-21 as the game went to halftime.

The Hawks started the second half with a bang, with Nelson and Dami Adeyinka scoring layups to make the lead 30-23 with 8:43 remaining. The Hawks continued to hold the lead for the majority of the quarter, but were able to break a late-quarter tie with another Nelson layup with 0:58 remaining, with the quarter ending with a 37-35 Hawks lead.

The fourth quarter was a stressful back-and-forth event, with a Nelson layup giving the lead back to the Hawks for the first time, making the score 39-38 with 8:38 remaining. The score stayed that way until another layup from Nelson a few minutes later, widening the lead to 41-38 with 5:29 remaining. Beth Matis Martin broke a tie with a free throw a few minutes later, making the score 45-44 Hawks with 2:34 remaining. The Bearcats retook the lead seconds later, but a pair of free throws from Maddie Spagnola helped the Hawks retake the lead 47-46 with 2:09 remaining. The Hawks lost and retook the lead for the final time with 1:20 remaining, with two Laconte free throws making the score 49-48 Hawks. Spagnola made two more free throws with four seconds remaining, leading to the final score being 51-48 Hawks.

Sarah Nelson led the Hawks with 17 points in 35 minutes of playtime, with Dami Adeyinka scoring 10 points in 26 minutes of playtime and Emma Knipe scoring 7 points with 16 rebounds in 30 minutes of playtime.