EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville shot just 30 percent from the field in a 71-51 loss to Missouri-Rolla at the Vadalabene Center.

SIUE, 19-7 and 12-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, was denied its 20th victory of the season as Missouri-Rolla boosted its chances of qualifying for next week's GLVC Tournament, improving to 16-10 and 9-9.

Whitney Sykes was SIUE's leading scorer with 21 points. She started out slow, but the first of her four three-pointers broke her own single-season record for three-pointers made. She now has 74. Sykes also became the 18th member of the 1,000-point club at SIUE, ironically hitting a three-pointer to do so.

Missouri-Rolla had all the right answers on offense against the Cougars. Tamara McCaskill, of Edwardsville, led the Miners with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Katie Bunge scored 14, and Nicole Dierking was a force with 12 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

SIUE returns to the Vadalabene Center for senior night Saturday at 5:30 p.m. when it entertains Missouri-St. Louis in the regular season finale. SIUE has qualified for next week's GLVC Tournament and should know its first-round opponent late Saturday evening.