Bolivar, Mo- The SBU Women's team opened up their conference season Monday evening taking on the William Jewell Cardinals. Bearcats got the victory with a score of 65-35. That win moves the Bearcats to 3-3(1-0 Conference) on the season.

Kallyn Stumbo opened up the scoring for the Bearcats in the first possession of the game. Followed by back to back buckets from Mary Rose Foster causing the Cardinals to call an early time out with SBU leading 6-0. Cardinals would then have 6 unanswered points broken by Foster's old school 3-point play giving her 7 out of the teams' 9 opening points. Bearcats strong defensive held the Cardinals to 8 points in the first quarter giving the Bearcats a 14-8 lead.

Bearcats continued their strong defense not allowing the Cardinals to score until the 4:20 mark in the second quarter. Next possession Emma Perry knocked down a three to give the Bearcats a 21-10 lead. The Bearcats had four steals and four blocks in the first half and went into the locker room with a 23-13 lead.

Early buckets by Nyah Pettus and Kallyn Stumbo put the Bearcats up 14 early into the second half. Teams would trade buckets over the next few minutes but the Bearcats would hold the lead at 35-20 halfway through the third quarter. SBU would end the quarter on a 15-5 run with 2 three's from Kyleigh Vaught.

Another Perry three in the opening minutes of the final quarter would put the Bearcats up 55-27. Isabel Rohlfing would check into the game shortly after and score two out of the next three Bearcat buckets. In their first conference matchup of the season the Bearcats finished out the game strong winning 65-35.

The Bearcats shot 26-60 for 43.3% and went 4-15 from three for 26.7%. They held their opponent, William Jewell, to 11-50 from the field at 22%. Foster led the way for the Bearcats with 13 points closely followed by Rachel Tippens with 11. Vaught went 2 for 2 from the three point line for six points, Stumbo also matched her with six. Pettus, Perry, Kelsey Blakemore, Bella Irlenborn, Rohlfing, and Micah Clayton all had single digit points to round out the scoring.

The Women's Basketball Bearcats will be back in action this Thursday as they travel to Kansas City to take on the Hawks of Rockhurst University. Tip off is scheduled for 5:30.