Box Score

(Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners opened Great Lakes Valley Conference play on Thursday with a dominating effort on the defensive end in its 64-57 win over Quincy in Rolla. The Hawks entered the contest as the highest scoring team in the GLVC averaging nearly 92 points per game but the Lady Miners held them to 35 under their season average.

The opening five minutes were tight as Quincy (5-1, 0-1 GLVC) held a 10-9 lead just over five minutes into the game.  It stretched its lead to seven on back-to-back threes for its biggest of the game. Still trailing by seven, S&T (4-2, 1-0 GLVC) closed to within 19-18 on a layup by Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) with 7:11 left in the opening stanza.

The Hawks pushed it back out to a three-point lead but Fareedah Washington (Forrest City, Ark./Forrest City) tied it back-up with an old fashioned three-point play with less than four minutes to play. Jessica Vaughn's jumper nearly a minute later gave Quincy back the lead, but Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton)'s three-pointer 0:20 later gave the Lady Miners their first lead of the game.

It was short lived as Karlee Gengenbacher split a pair of free throws to tie it back up with 2:10 to play. D'Naya Mims (Chicago, Ill./Harlan Community Academy) put S&T back on top with a layup 28-26 with exactly two minutes left. The Hawks scored five straight to regain a 31-28 lead, but Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein)'s driving layup with 0:04 left sent the Lady Miners into the intermission trailing 31-30.

Quincy shot 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) from the floor and shot 50 percent (3-for-6) from three. The Hawks were only 4-of-8 at the foul line and turned it over 15 times. Gengenbacher had eight points while Vaughn had seven to lead Quincy.

S&T was just 11-of-30 (36.7 percent) from the floor and 2-for-7 from three. The Lady Miners made 6-of-9 at the charity stripe and turned it over only eight times. Sample had seven points while Mims added six and Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) dropped in five.

S&T started the second half out strong scoring the first six points to build a five point lead two minutes in. It was a lead it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the night. It stayed a two point advantage for the next five minutes before the Lady Miners broke the game open with an 11-0 run spanning nearly five minutes. Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) had four in the run and Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) capped the run hitting a rainbow three as the shot clock expired to make it 49-36 at the 7:45 mark.

Quincy cut the lead back to nine on a put back by Linsay Henke with 5:44 remaining. McLeod answered with her second three of the night pushing the lead back to double digits.

The Hawks refused to go away though cutting the lead to 54-47 on a three by Daryle Goldie with exactly four minutes to play.

Mims and Parks put the Lady Miners back up by double digits with back-to-back buckets with less than three to go. Quincy then ran off five straight to get as close as six with just over two minutes to play. However, that would be the closest they got as S&T salted away the game at the foul line in the final minute going 6-for-8 to grab the win.

The Lady Miners really tightened things up on the defensive end in the second half allowing the Hawks to shoot only 32.3 percent (10-for-31) from the floor and 4-of-10 from three. They finished the game shooting 22-of-53 from the floor (41.5 percent) which was nearly six points below its season average. The Hawks entered Thursday night's game with three players in the top in the GLVC in scoring and didn't have a single player reach double digits. Vaughn and Courtney Shuman had nine apiece while Goldie, Gengenbacher and Henke had eight each.

S&T also shot 41.5 percent (22-for-53) from the floor and was 4-of-11 (36.4 percent) from downtown. The Lady Miners shot 67 percent (16-for-24) at the charity stripe and forced 22 Hawk turnovers. S&T won the battle on the boards outrebounding Quincy by a 37-to-34 margin.

Meyer led all scorers with 12 points while Parks and Mims had 10 apiece. Mims had eight rebounds while Washington and Sample had six apiece.

The Lady Miners return to action on Saturday afternoon hosting Illinois-Springfield beginning at 1 p.m.