MACOMB, Ill. - A strong second half was not enough for Western Illinois women's basketball to defeat Loyola-Chicago, as the Ramblers won 89-79 inside Western Hall on Saturday evening.

The Leathernecks' record is now even at 3-3, while the Ramblers improve to 2-3.

Tori Niemann set new career highs with 19 points (8-of-16 shooting) and nine rebounds, going along with three assists and two steals.

Ashley Luke added 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while Michelle Maher totaled 10 points, all in the second half, and five boards.

Down by 15 at halftime, Western chipped away in the second half, cutting the margin to 75-71 with 4:58 left.

Loyola responded with a 7-0 run of its own over the next two minutes to put the game away.

"The first half we did everything at 70 or 75 percent and you can't play D1 basketball like that, especially against a good Loyola team," head coach JD Gravina said. "In the second half, we came out and all of our movements were as intense as we could at the time. Offensively we stood in the first half; second half we had a lot better offensive movement. The encouraging thing is that it's the type of team we can be, what we saw in the second half."

Trailing 25-24 with 7:19 left in the first half, Loyola used a 16-2 run to extend their lead to 15 points, which Western was unable to recover from.

Rebecca Henricson added seven points and seven assists, committing just one turnover, while Sophie Reichelt and Marley Hall notched nine points apiece.

For Loyola, Taylor Johnson scored a game-high 31 points, also adding six rebounds and four assists.

Forty-eight fouls were committed in the game, with WIU drawing 28 and Loyola drawing 20. Western went 26-of-35 (74.3 percent) from the line, while the Ramblers went 15-of-21 (71.4 percent).

The Ramblers had big advantages in field goal shooting (33-of-62 - 53.2 percent to 24-of-64, 37.5 percent), 3-point shooting (8-of-16 - 50 percent to 5-of-18, 27.8 percent),  rebounding (43 to 34) and blocks (6 to 0).

The Leathernecks have a quick turnaround, traveling to Eastern Illinois for a noon game on Monday (Nov. 25).

“Eastern beat Loyola by one point, so it'll be another tough game," Gravina added. "We'll be on the road so we have another challenge ahead of us. We set up a challenging schedule against a lot of teams that are similar teams to us and we've got to step up and play hard the whole game.”