Box Score (Quincy, Ill.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners used a strong defensive performance and got some timely shooting to defeat Wisconsin-Parkside 74-56 on Friday evening in the opening round of the GLVC Tournament in Quincy, Ill.

The game started off as a seesaw affair with each side answering point for point as there were seven ties and four lead changes in the opening frame. Lauren Dubbert (Madison, Mo./Madison) and Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) kept the Lady Miners (16-12) in the contest early scoring seven of the team's first 13 points. Each side came out a little sluggish shooting the basketball as both sides were under 30 percent for a majority of the half.

Trailing 14-13 almost midway through the opening frame S&T regained the lead on a jumper by Sheena Chadwell (Mason, Mich./Mason) to go up 16-14. After a pair of free throws by Parkside's (18-10) Brittany Beyer tied it back up at 16 with 7:13 to play. The Lady Miners retook the lead at 19-16 on a three-pointer by Jenny Dorman (Pella, Iowa/Pella) after a steal by Dubbert.

The Rangers refused to go away staying within three before tying the game back up on an old-fashioned three-point play by Brittany Hogen with 4:14 to go. S&T regained the lead on a breakaway lay-up by Tamara McCaskill but Hogen got a lay-up on the other end to tie it back up at 25 all.

After a pair of McCaskill free throws gave S&T the lead back it began to employ some three-quarter court pressure which began to give Parkside fits as it turned it over a couple of times and weren't able to get any good looks at the basket.

The Lady Miners proceeded to cash those opportunities into points finishing the frame on an 8-0 run behind six points from McCaskill to head into the break with a 33-25 advantage.

After its slow start S&T began to warm up down the stretch to finish the stanza shooting 43 percent (13-of-30) from the floor. It was outrebounded by a 22-to-14 margin but converted nine Ranger turnovers into 12 points and had an 8-0 edge in fast break points and its bench outscored Parkside's by a 9-0 margin.

The Lady Miners on the other hand turned it over just four times in the frame while holding the Rangers to 10-for-31 (32 percent) shooting and 0-of-9 from behind the arc.

McCaskill finished the frame with 10 points and Dubbert had seven as all nine players who saw action in the half for S&T recorded at least two points. Hogen and Beyer had nine and eight respectively to lead Parkside.

After the Rangers scored the first basket of the second half to cut the deficit to six the Lady Miners responded getting a big three from Kemp to extending the lead back to nine. The lead would stay in the seven to nine point range over the next four minutes.

That lead grew to double digits when McCaskill hit a cutting Chadwell for a wide open lay-up at the 14:04 mark. Parkside cut the lead to seven with back-to-back buckets from Hogen and Beyer before Kemp converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to push the lead back to 47-37.

S&T built the lead to 13 points on two different occasions before Parkside began to cut into the deficit scoring nine straight points to cut the lead to 52-48 with just under eight minutes to play. As was the case all night long the duo of Hogen and Beyer scored all nine points in the run but it wasn't enough as the Lady Miners answered with a 10-0 run of its own pushing the lead back to double digits.

The Rangers got it to 10 with less than three minutes to play but S&T did the job at the foul line making its free throws in the final two minutes before sealing the deal with another old-fashioned three-point play this time from McCaskill with a minute to go.

The Lady Miners finished the contest shooting 44 percent (26-of-59) from the floor while holding UW-Parkside to only 20-of-56 (36 percent) shooting while not allowing a single three all night (0-for-14).

McCaskill led all scorers with 22 points and was joined in double figures by Jazmine Bell (Euclid, Ohio/Euclid) with 15 and Kemp with 11.

Defensively S&T held Parkside's leading scorers Amanda Gibson and Jadee Rooney, who coming into the game averaged a combined total of 28.9, to just 16 total points. Hogan and Beyer finished with 20 and 18 to lead the Rangers.

The Lady Miners return to action on Saturday evening taking on Quincy in the semi-finals beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the QU Pepsi Arena. The Hawks defeated Indianapolis 65-62 in its opening round win.