File photo of The Current

Riverwoman Jennifer Littleton (00) attempts a free throw on thursday nightÕs loss to Northern Kentucky. Despite the loss, the Riverwomen managed to gain a split on the week with an earlier victory over Kentucky Wesleyan. The Riverwomen are tied for third place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with a 9-5 record. They are 12-8 overall.

by Dave Kinworthy
staff editor

The women's basketball team trailed Northern Kentucky in the first half 29-43 and was unable to recover from the 14-point deficit as UM-St. Louis lost 63-93.

Coming into the game, Northern Kentucky was ranked fourth in NCAA Division II Women's Basketball, and it showed.

In the second half, the Riverwomen mounted a comeback and trailed by as few as six points. With only 17:10 left, Katy Gwaltney stole the ball from a Northern Kentucky player and made a layup to close the gap to 39-45. However, turnovers were the key in the last eight minutes of the second half as Northern Kentucky took over and extended the lead to 52-68 and never looked back.

Jennifer Littleton led the Riverwomen with 14 points, while Tanisha Albert came off the bench for UM-St. Louis to have a solid effort with 12 points. Pauline Harris also played big in the middle for the Riverwomen as she recorded three blocks and two steals in only twelve minutes.

Five Northern Kentucky players scored in double digits, and the hot first half-shooting of 73.9 percent from the field did not help the Riverwomen's chances. Northern Kentucky also out-rebounded the Riverwomen 30-19 and forced 24 UM-St. Louis turnovers.

Previously, UM-St. Louis took on another Kentucky team in Kentucky-Wesleyan. The Riverwomen played extremely well out of the gates as they jumped ahead at half time 40-22.

In the second half, UM-St. Louis maintained control and went on to win 79-59.

GLVC Basketball Standings
Team	GLVC Record	Overall Record
1) Northern Kentucky	13-1	18-2
2) Lewis	10-5	13-8
3) Bellarmine	9-5	14-6
4) SIU-Edwardsville	9-5	14-6
5) UM-St. Louis	9-5	12-8
6) Southern Indiana	8-6	13-7
7) Kentucky Wesleyan	8-6	11-9
8) Indianapolis	6-8	12-8
9) IUPU-Ft. Wayne	6-8	10-10
10) St. JosephÕs	3-11	5-15
11) Wisconsin-Parkside	3-14	7-14
12) Quincy	1-13	5-15

Tawanda Daniel led the team in points and rebounding as she collected 29 points and 20 rebounds. Daniel also had two assists and four steals.

Guard Sara Mauck also played well, accumulating 21 points and dishing out five assists, while Amanda Wentzel scored 18 points.

The Riverwomen shot 54 percent from three-point range and dominated the boards as UM-St. Louis out-rebounded Kentucky-Wesleyan 54-33, with 24 of those rebounds coming from the offensive end.

UM-St. Louis now hits the road for a clash with Quincy University on Feb. 15 and returns home on Feb. 17 and 19 to battle Lewis University and Wisconsin-Parkside in the final two home games of the year. The Riverwomen previously lost to Lewis University 90-81. UM-St. Louis hopes to revenge that earlier loss, but must contain Carey Jewell, who averages 19.5 points per game. Lewis University also features one of the more tenacious defenses, which averages over 10 steals a game.

These next few games are crucial to UM-St. Louis as they currently stand 12-8, 9-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.