FAYETTE, Iowa - Upper Iowa women's basketball (8-8, 4-4 GLVC) battled to come back against Quincy (8-7, 5-3 GLVC) on Thursday night, but fell 58-54. This marks the second split between the teams in conference play over the last two seasons. 

Quincy's largest lead of the game came in the second half, taking a 35-24 lead with 5:45 left in the third quarter after a 7-0 spurt. The Peacocks answered with an 8-0 run of their own to trial by three, 35-32. The Hawks then responded with an Olivia Lawson layup to help finish the quarter with a six-point lead. 

That 35-32 lead was one of seven times that the Peacocks trailed by one possession in the final 16 minutes, but they could never find the next bucket to tie or take a lead themselves. Quincy held the lead for the entirety of the second half. 

Trailing 49-45, Bryar Duwe hit a 3-pointer to cut the Hawk lead to 49-48. A few possessions after a Quincy timeout, Blair Eftink responded with her only 3-pointer of the game for a four-point lead. UIU cut the advantage to two points twice after that, but went 0-for-2 on potential game-tying baskets. 

"We had to fight our way back, and I thought we did a really good job of that," said head coach Justin Maass. "Then it was back and forth, and at that point in the gam,e somebody just needs to make a play. Whether it's on the defensive end or on the offensive end, making a shot or two. I thought we settled for a few shots down the stretch and didn't get great looks. We got it to two points multiple times down the stretch, and settled instead of maybe getting a higher percentage look."

The first half of the game was back-and-forth, with Quincy leading 13-11 after 10 minutes and 24-22 at halftime. A late jumper by Duwe to tie the game at half was overturned due to a shot clock violation. 

In the first half, the Peacocks shot 9-of-21 (42.9%) from the field compared to 10-of-32 (31.3%) by the Hawks. The major difference was turnovers, with UIU totaling 12 compared to three for Quincy. That helped the Hawks take a 12-3 scoring advantage off turnovers in the first half. 

The Peacocks cleaned up the turnovers in the second half, only committing two while Quincy had 10. It was not enough to turn the game around due to the Hawks shooting 14-of-27 (51.9%) from the field compared to UIU's 13-of-36 (36.1%) in the second half. 

In total, Upper Iowa shot 22-of-57 (38.6%) and 6-of-23 (26.1%) from behind the arc, while Quincy shot 24-of-59 (40.7%) with a 5-of-21 (23.8%) mark from behind the arc. Upper Iowa finished the game with a 16-14 advantage off of turnovers, while Quincy had a 38-24 advantage in the paint and a 10-2 advantage on second-chance points. 

Ellie Foster was the leading scorer for the Peacocks with 11 points and almost had a double-double with nine rebounds. Four of her nine rebounds came in the opening period. She added two assists and a steal. 

Lindsey Davis posted her second game in double digits this season, shooting 4-of-5 (80%) from the field and 2-of-3 (66.7%) on 3-pointers to total 10 points. She also had two blocked shots, a rebound, an assist and a steal.

Duwe scored nine points with five rebounds and an assist. Josie Foster and Amelia Valentino saw extended time for UIU, scoring seven points each. Valentino was +7 on the court, and Josie Foster was +6. UIU's bench totaled 24 points on the night.  

"That was big," Maass said. "Josie had a really good game at Quincy, so she had another solid one today. Amelia was another big, bright spot. She made the adjustments we wanted to do on the opposite side and executed really well in those opportunities. I've been waiting for Lindsey to have a game like this because she's really capable and is a big part of our team. It was definitely good to get our bench going because our starters struggled a little bit to produce scoring-wise."

Totaling six points, seven rebounds and four assists was junior guard Sydnee Nelson. Ava Privet finished with four points, two rebounds, an assist, a steal and a blocked shot. 

Quincy's Hayven Harden led the game in scoring with 20 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. She shot 10-of-11 (90.1%) from the field. Eftink scored nine points and the team's leading scorer this season, Katey Flynn, totaled seven points. 

Upper Iowa wraps up the weekend against Truman State (8-8, 5-3 GLVC). The Bulldogs lost 53-38 to Lewis (Ill.) (9-6, 5-2 GLVC) on Thursday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium.