By: Luke Rinne, Assistant Sports Information Director
Box Score
(Romeoville, Ill.) - The Missouri S&T Lady Miners were unable to overcome 25 turnovers and a hot shooting Flyer squad in the second half in a
62-58 loss at Lewis on Thursday evening in Romeoville, Ill.
The Lady Miners (7-5, 1-3 GLVC) got off to a good start in the first half getting 19 points from Tamara McCaskill and Jazmine Bell (Euclid, Ohio/Euclid) but were unable to put the Flyers (7-7, 3-2 GLVC) away early because of 10 turnovers in the opening 10 minutes The game started out back and forth with neither side holding more than a three point lead in the first 11 minutes.
S&T began to take control with a 9-3 run behind seven from Bell to build its largest lead of the night at 25-17 on a driving lay-up by
Lydia Karlefors (Sunderbyn, Sweden/Lulea Basketgymnasium) at the 5:09 mark. Lewis would cut the lead to three at the 1:53 mark on a three by Kelly Monaco, her third of the half, but the Lady Miners pushed the lead back to five on a lay-up by
Katie McElrath (Owasso, Okla./Owasso) with 0:22 left.
The Flyers though would get the final points of the half on a lay-up by Kady Currin with 0:04 remaining to give S&T a 29-26 lead at the intermission.
After their initial woes handling the basketball in the first 10 minutes the Lady Miners turned it over only twice in the final 10 minutes. They shot the ball at a 52 percent clip (14-of-27) from the floor and out rebounded Lewis 22-10 while holding the Flyers to just 11-for-31 (35.5 percent).
After a lay-up by Jenny Turpel in the first 0:10 cut S&T's lead to one it scored the next four points to build a 33-28 in the first two minutes. Lewis responded though with a 15-2 over the next five minutes to build its biggest lead of the night at 43-35 behind 10 points from Turpel and Currin.
The Lady Miners though began chipping away at the lead with a 13-3 run and eventually retook the lead on a lay-up by McElrath with just over five minutes to play. They stretched their lead to 55-52 at the 3:52 mark but were unable to score again until McElrath banked home a three with 0:09 left.
The Flyers were able to take advantage of S&T's offensive struggles going on one last run to tie and eventually retake the lead on a pair of free throws by Currin with 1:22 left. Devon Carbaugh's three-pointer with 0:21 put the Flyers up by five before McElrath cut it back down to two, but Lewis was able to ice the game at the line with a pair of free throws by Jenna Mooberry with 0:06 left.
Each team shot over 50 percent from the floor in the second half but it was the Flyers who were just a little warmer as they connected on 56 percent (14-for-25) while S&T made just 12-of-23 (52 percent) from the floor.
McCaskill finished with a double-double to lead the Lady Miners getting 18 points and 10 rebounds. Bell dropped in 14 while McElrath had 11. McCaskill became just the sixth S&T player with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in her career with her four boards in the first half.
Turpel led four Flyer players in double figures with 17 and was joined by Monaco with 14, Carbaugh with 11 and Currin with 10.
The Lady Miners will look to break their two game losing streak on Saturday afternoon against Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wis., beginning at 1 p.m.
