NORMAL, Ill. - Looking for its first win of the season, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville women's basketball team hit the road for the first time this season but fell 68-57 against Illinois State Saturday afternoon at Redbird Arena.

"I thought we played really well," said Head Coach Amanda Levens. "We executed the game plan and did what we wanted to do."

After the Redbirds scored the game's opening basket, it was SIUE's Melia Duncan scoring the next eight points to give the Cougars an 8-2 advantage.

Duncan finished as the game's leading scorer with 21 points, going 5 of 9 from behind the arc. Eighteen of Duncan's points came in the first half.

"Melia really shot the ball well after a tough couple games," added Levens. "It hurt us when she had to sit on the bench with foul trouble in the second half."

Illinois State took advantage of the SIUE foul trouble by converting 12 free throws in the first half on 21 attempts while the Cougars had only one opportunity from the line.

The Redbirds jumped out front with a 14-2 run to take a 20-13 lead midway through the opening half. After SIUE fell behind by nine, the Cougars closed the half strong to cut the deficit to four, trailing 34-30 at the break.

SIUE kept the game close in the second half with timely shooting from three-point range, but Illinois State dominated the paint, scoring 24 of its 34 second-half points inside.

The Cougars would get within seven with two minutes to play but that was all the closer they would get as the Redbirds came away with the 11-point victory.

Freshman Allyssa Decker chipped in 12 points off the bench for SIUE while fellow freshman Jazmin Hill added 10 points and a game-high six assists.

ISU finished the game with four players reaching double-digit scoring led by Katie Broadway's 17-point performance. Kenyatta Shelton, Emily Hanley, and Hannah Spanich added 15, 11, and 11, respectively for the Redbirds.

"Playing a team like Illinois State is good for our program, and I am very happy with our effort," said Levens.

After turning the ball over a season-high 31 times on Tuesday against Wichita State, SIUE held on to the ball and committed only 13 turnovers in the loss.

The Cougars will continue their road stretch in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday facing UMKC at 7 p.m.

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