MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois women's basketball (6-10, 3-3) continued Summit League play, this time with Southern Utah (4-13, 0-6) on Saturday afternoon with a convincing 82-70 victory.

Western shot 44 free throws and made 34 (77.3%) of them to power its way to the third most points scored this season. Four Leathernecks reached double-digits led by Sadie Webb with 20. Webb, Saule Kontautaite (19 - career-high), Valencia Kelly (16) and Michele Salvatori (14) combined for 64 percent of the team's scoring.

Webb paced the Leathernecks to an early lead with five points as Western held a 13-10 advantage at the 13-minute mark.

Kontautaite knocked down a triple to extend the home lead to 16-10 with 12:48 remaining in first half. Thunderbird turnovers supplemented the Purple & Gold offensive attack as five SUU turnovers led to nine points for the Leathernecks.

Torey Hill converted a three-point play to bring Southern Utah within one at 22-21 with 9:27 left before the break. The Thunderbirds captured the lead, 24-22, with a Hailey Mandelko three-pointer with 7:43 remaining.

Lindsay Carroll answered quickly with a triple on the next possession to give Western the 25-24 lead at the seven-minute mark that it would not relinquish.

Western's run continued on a Webb jumper with 5:16 on the clock to stretch the lead to 32-25. Kelly knocked down a jumper before the final media timeout of the first half to give Western a 34-27 lead.

Salvatori collected two easy baskets and Kontautaite followed with a third straight layup to give Western its largest lead at 40-29 up to that point with 1:43 on the clock.

Western held onto a comfortable 44-29 lead at the break. Kelly paced the Leathernecks with 13 points. Western's bench contributed 16 points as Western shot 44.4 percent from the field Salvatori also pulled down six first half rebounds.

Southern Utah collected four quick points to begin the second half to force Western to burn a timeout with the Leathernecks leading 44-33 at the 19-minute mark.

Western was able to regain some of the momentum with solid offensive execution and held a 48-35 lead with 15:42 left in the game. Kontautaite drilled a triple to give Western the 51-37 advantage out of a timeout.

Southern Utah cut the deficit to six at 60-54 with 8:30 left in the game. Salvatori hit a three to stop the Thunderbird run at the eight-minute mark. The visitors run continued and with 6:18 left Western clung to a 65-62 lead. That would be as close as the Thunderbirds would get.

Salvatori drilled a deep ball to give the Leathernecks a 68-62 lead. Webb converted two free throws with 4:47 on the clock to stretch the advantage to eight, 70-62.

The Leathernecks were able to convert from the line to keep its advantage and Webb hit two more with 2:27 left giving Western a 76-67 lead.

The final minute would be much of the same, as Western would cruise to the 82-70 victory.

Kelly went 12-for-14 from the line, which matches the eighth most all-time in program history in. Webb finished just one outside the top-ten with her 11-for-14 performance.

Mandelko led Southern Utah with 20 points while Moreland finished with 19 and 12 rebounds.

The Leathernecks will make its final Summit League road trip of January with a trip to Vermillion, S.D. for a 5 p.m. battle with South Dakota.

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