The William Jewell women's basketball team opened up Great Lakes Valley Conference play Thursday night with a 76-64 loss to Quincy University. The Cardinals now stand at 4-6 overall, 0-1 in the GLVC. Quincy, who is receiving votes in the national polls, moves to 6-0 on the season.

The Cardinals opened the game strong jumping out to a 6-2 lead, all from Madison Campbell, and holding the fifth ranked three point shooting team in the country to just 1-9 from behind the arc over the first four minutes. As expected however, Quincy made a run, helping themselves to eight offensive rebounds and outscoring Jewell 14-4 before a traditional three-point play from Makenzie Johnson ended the streak.Quincy again began to make some separation, going up by as many as 14 late in the quarter before Logan Antenen connected on a three-point shot with 43 seconds remaning to pull the Cardinals within 24-17 after the first ten minutes.

In the second quarter Blair Klostermann, aided by two Hawk turnovers, got in on the action going on a 5-0 spurt of her own to pull within 31-26 with 4:02 remaining in the half. Just over two minutes later Kelsey Nickerson a hit a three to pull Jewell within four at 35-31, the closest the Cardinals had been since the score was 14-10. Each team scored once more over the final minute to bring the score to 37-33 at the break. In the opening half the Cardinals shot 41 percent from the floor, while hitting just two of six three-point shots. On the otherside Quincy shot 49 percent but also struggled from behind the arc going 4-13. However, the Hawks outrebounded Jewell 19-12.

Jewell came out firing in the third quarter scoring on three consecutive trips down the floor to grab a 40-39 lead, thier first since the opening five mintues of the game. The 7-2 run forced a Quincy timeout where the Hawks regrouped and went on an 8-0 run of their own. A three point shot from Zinka Duric just before the buzzer would quiet the Hawks and get Jewell back within five (53-48) entering the final period.

The Cardinals continued to hang tough until the halfway mark of the fourth quarter when things began to unravel and Quincy went on a 8-0 run to open up a 12 point lead with 5:54 remaining in the contest. Nikia Edom, who led all scorers with 22, hit her sixth three point shot of the night with just over a minute to go that put the game on ice for the Hawks, despite Jewell playing even over the final five minutes.

Campbell and Maddie Nelson led the Cardinals offensively with 12 points a piece. Klostermann added 11 with Antenen chipping in eight. Nelson also added four rebounds and four assists.

Up next, the Cardinals will open the home portion of the GLVC schedule as they host Truman State on Saturday, December 5 at 2:00 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to be played in Kirksville, Mo. but in an attempt to help the student-athletes with travel and academic responsibilities the game was switched to a home matchup. The Cardials will travel to Truman State in February.