EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE aimed to knock Loyola from the undefeated ranks, but the Ramblers fended off the Cougars 63-50 on Sunday afternoon at the First Community Arena in the Vadalabene Center.

The Ramblers improved to 8-0. The Cougars fell to 2-6.

"We were fighting from playing from behind the whole game," SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher said. "We made a nice run at them in the fourth quarter, but then Loyola took care of the ball well and showed good clock management."

The Cougars, who trailed 47-35 after the third period, scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and got to within 47-43 with 7:20 to play, but then the Ramblers took control. They scored 11 consecutive points and put the finishing touches on their victory. Loyola is 6-0 on the road this season.

"They are a nice team, a high IQ team and they take advantage of what you give them," Buscher said of the Ramblers. "We had some good moments today, but we need to sustain our energy and toughness."

Allie Troeckler gave the Cougars a bit of both traits. She scored a team-high 12 points, snared six rebounds and had two assists. Bria Stallworth contributed 10 points and Mikala Hall collected nine points and three assists.

Hall scored all of her points in the first half on a trio of three-pointers. The Cougars trailed 32-27 at half.

SIUE made 21 of 55 shots, (38.2 percent). SIUE connected on 5 of 12 attempts from 3-point range and sank 3 of 4 free throws. The Ramblers outrebounded the Cougars 41-35.

Allison Day scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds to pace the visitors. Abby O'Connor (13 points), Ellie Rice (11 points) and Jala Johnson (10 points) backed Day's game-leading effort.

"At times, I thought we showed a nice inside-outside touch with our shooting and at times, we needed to take better shots," Buscher said. "We didn't have as many good touches as I would have liked us to have in this game."

She added, "The biggest lesson we have to take away from it is that we have to play with intensity for 40 minutes. We battled and had some good moments, just not enough of them."

SIUE is idle until Sunday, Dec. 16 when the Cougars begin a seven-game road excursion with an 11 a.m. date at Illinois State. The Cougars then play a pair of games in the Georgia State Tournament before getting ready for Ohio Valley Conference action Jan. 2 at Belmont. Their first four conference contests are away from home, including Tennessee State (Jan. 4), Morehead State (Jan. 9) and Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 11). SIUE's league home opener is against Tennessee Tech (Jan. 16).