Four Flames scored in double figures, and UIC shot 50% in the second half, but they couldn't get points on key possessions down the stretch and fell to Fort Wayne, 61-55 Saturday at the Flames Athletic Center.

Melita Emanuel-Carr played only four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble but made up for lost time in the third quarter.  She hit back to back 3-pointers out of the gate as UIC chipped away at an 11 point halftime deficit.  Later, she went coast to coast for a layup, then got a contested offensive rebound and laid it in to total 12 points in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Taylor Toney's three point play was followed by Laura Litchfield and Terri Bender layups to put the Flames on top, 48-47, for the first time since the end of the first quarter.  The Flames would go up by two, 55-53, when Tyra Carlsten-Handberg made a baseline runner with 1:55 left.  But Fort Wayne got five straight points from Rachel Rinehart, who finished with 16, as part of an 8-0 run to close the game.

Bender continued her season-long climb up the UIC charts.  Her lone steal of the game gave her sole possession of 5^th place on the school's all-time list.  She logged four assists, moving her into a tie for 5^th place on that career list.

Toney tied for game high honors with 17 points.  Emanuel-Carr finished with 12 before fouling out, and Laura Litchfield scored a career high 11.  Bender had 10 and was one of three Flames to grab five rebounds.

The Flames started aggressively, drawing fouls on each of the first two Fort Wayne possessions.  Rinehart converted a three point play to give the Mastodons their first lead at 7-4, but UIC responded with a 7-2 run to close the quarter highlighted by a Terri Bender off balance jump shot while getting fouled.

Fort Wayne was the more aggressive team in the second quarter.  On one possession, they drew four consecutive fouls on UIC, with the final one coming on a Rinehart layup.  She missed the free throw but the Mastodons still built a seven point lead before UIC scored their first points of the quarter.

De'Jour Young was a one-woman show for the Mastodons in the first half.  She scored 17 of the team's 30 points and had 8 rebounds.  She shot 7-for-11 from the field (64%) while the rest of her team shot just 25%.  The Flames made just 26% of their first half attempts and went without a field goal for 8:11 spanning the quarters.

UIC held Young scoreless and limited her to just one rebound in the second half.  The Mastodons outrebounded the Flames by 11 and had 13 second chance points.

UIC will make a very short trip north to take on Northwestern Tuesday at 11 am.