Kobel nets career high in road loss

Junior Emily Kobel scored 17 points Monday against Saint Louis. Photo: Steve Woltmann

Junior Emily Kobel tallied a career-high 17 points Monday as the women’s basketball team(1-5) lost a road contest, 58-49, against Saint Louis (4-4).

Redshirt junior Katie Hannemann and junior Rachel Story added 10 points each. Story has scored in double figures in all six games this season.

Kobel shot 5-of-11 from behind the arc.

“We fought in spurts tonight,” head coach Regina Miller said. “We are still trying to find a way to put together a full 40 minutes. We have shown glimpses of great play and now we just need to sustain that.”

Kobel began the night with a deep ball 20 seconds into the game to give UIC the early 3-0 edge. Saint Louis took command of the lead by the 18:36 mark on consecutive jumpers.

The score was close until Saint Louis extended their lead to 29-19 with about seven minutes left in the half.

Sophomore Gisselle Truiett broke the Flames’ scoring drought with a bucket with less than three minutes left in the first stanza.

Saint Louis scored the period’s final four points, giving the Billikens a 34-24 lead heading into the break. Lorreal Jones paced Saint Louis with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.

The Flames started the second half on a 7-0 run to cut SLU’s lead to 35-33. But the Billikens engineered their own 7-0 offensive burst to push ahead, 46-37.

Kobel and Hannemann brought UIC to within four (46-42) on five straight points with less than six minutes in game. Saint Louis answered with a clutch three-pointer to take a 49-42 lead.

The Billikens closed out the contest going 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes to cement the win.

The Flames shot 17-of-54 (31.5 percent) from the field. UIC struggled to produce interior scoring with just eight points on the night, while giving up 26 to Saint Louis.

Senior Taylor Foulks notched two treys on her way to eight points and seven rebounds. Foulks has 187 career three-pointers — she needs 15 to climb to No. 4 on the school’s all-time leaderboard.

The Flames wrap up their three-game road swing Friday with a 6 p.m. match at Indiana State.