The Flames battled the Cincinnati Bearcats (5-4) in front of their home crowd at Fifth Third Arena on Sunday and were victorious, 66-58. 

The Flames were led offensively by Ky Dempsey-Toney, with 25 minutes off the bench scored 17 points and 5 rebounds. Jaida McCloud scored 11 points and grabbed 6 boards. Josie Filer scored 11 with a team high 7 rebounds in the game.

Right from tip-off, the Flames and the Bearcats battled point-for-point early in the first quarter. Capping off a 10-0 run in the closing seconds of the quarter, UIC found themselves with an early lead, 15-8.

The Bearcats turned around in the second quarter with their strongest quarter of the game. Outscoring the Flames 22-8, UIC trailed 30-23 going into halftime.

Faced with a deficit coming into the second half, the Flames began to chip away. Led by Dempsey-Toney, who scored 11 of her 17 points late in the game, UIC made it a one possession game by the end of the third and battled for the lead beginning of the fourth.

The Flames hit their stride in the fourth as they outscored the Bearcats 25-14. Cincinnati cut the lead down to one point in the closing minutes, but after leading scorer Jillian Hayes (19 points, six rebounds, five assists) landed her 5^th foul in the last minute of the game, UIC took advantage. After two clutch free throws were made a piece between Kristian Young (nine points, seven assists four rebounds) and Danyel Middleton (six points, two rebounds and a steal), the Flames managed to walk away as victors.

The Flames out shot the Bearcats in field goals (42%-20%), three-pointers (72%-64%) and at the foul line (72%-65%). They evened out on rebounds with each team getting 50 apiece. The Flames bench dominated the Bearcats, 24-9.

Now improving to 8-1, the Flames are now tied with the 2014-2015 and the 1976-1977 season as the best start in program history. This is the program's first five-game winning streak dating back to 2008-2009.

The Flames have a reprieve from their schedule as Finals are currently underway but will be returning to the Credit Union 1 Arena on Wednesday, December 14^th to host the Northwestern Wildcats (4-4). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm.