Box Score Louisville, Ky. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners led for nearly the entire ball game, but were unable to cash in on some opportunities down the stretch as Bellarmine scored five points in the final 0:31 including the game winner with 2.8 seconds left to win 64-62 on Thursday night in Louisville, Ky.

The Lady Miners (11-10, 6-7 GLVC) got off to a good start in the contest by knocking down 8 of their first 16 shots to build an 18-7 lead in the first nine minutes. The trio of Andrea Downs, Julie Meyer and D'Naya Mims combined to score 14 of those points led by eight from Downs.

The Knights (13-9, 6-7 GLVC) cut it down to six on three different occasions but each time S&T had an answer eventually getting its lead back to 24-17 on a layup by Meyer with 6:20 left in the opening frame.

Bellarmine then proceeded to run off seven straight points to tie the game at 24 all with less than two minutes to play in the opening half. Meyer gave the Lady Miners the lead back with a jumper on the next possession, but it would be short lived as Allison Matheis hit a deep three with 1:13 left giving the Knights their first lead of the game at 27-26.

S&T had an opportunity to regain the lead when Hailee Parks laid one up and in but the basket was waved off on a questionable foul call against Parks with less than a minute left. Meyer had a chance to give the Lady Miners the lead at the break but her shot was blocked sending Bellarmine into the break with a 27-26 advantage.

S&T shot 44.4 percent (12-for-27) from the floor in the opening half and outrebounded the Knights by a 21-to-15 margin. Meyer and Downs had eight apiece to lead the Lady Miners.

Bellarmine made only 11-of-31 (35.5 percent) from the floor and were just 2-for-11 from downtown.

The difference in the stanza was S&T turned it over 10 times which resulted in 13 points for the Knights while Bellarmine committed only two turnovers.

Downs hit a three on the first possession of the second half allowing the Lady Miners to regain the lead. Each side then exchanged layups before Matheis hit another three giving the Knights the lead back at 32-31.

Courtney Kemp hit a jumper then both sides exchanged a pair of free throws keeping the Lady Miners up by a point. Another layup by Meyer sparked a 12-5 run for S&T giving it its biggest lead of the night at 49-39 with 10:31 to play in the contest.

Bellarmine though refused to go away knocking down five straight free throws in a span of 0:40 to cut the lead to 49-46. The Lady Miners answered that rally by getting back-to-back buckets from Kemp and Fareedah Washington to extend the lead back to nine points with 6:19 left.

Melissa Fitz made a three on the next possession to cut it back to six, but Downs had the answer knocking down a jumper to push the margin back to eight.

The Knights then proceeded to cut the lead to just two points with 3:17 left when Kylie Brady made 1-of-2 at the foul line. Downs again had the answer burying a three from the top of the key to push the lead back to 60-55 with exactly three minutes to play.

After a Jalissa Chatlos layup made it a three-point game, the Lady Miners had a chance to extend the lead but Meyer missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Mims though tracked down the loose ball and once again Meyer was fouled. Once again she missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and this time Bellarmine came away with the possession.

Chatlos made it a 60-59 game with her second straight layup with 1:49 left, but Downs answered back by knocking down a jumper on the next possession extending the lead back to three points.

The Knights had a couple of chances to tie the game on the ensuing trip but both shots were no good and S&T gained possession with about a minute left.

Meyer tried to push the lead back to five but she missed a five footer with 0:53 left and the Knights came away with the rebound.

With the shot clock winding down and the game clock at around 0:30 Matheis nailed a deep three to tie the game at 62 all.

S&T was virtually able to hold for the final shot but a turnover with 0:06 left and the ensuing layup by Chatlos three seconds later gave Bellarmine its first lead since the 17:00 mark.

The Lady Miners had one final chance at a game winning three but the shot went wide right at the buzzer giving the Knights a 64-62 win.

Downs led all scorers with 20 points. Meyer finished with 14 points and a career-high seven rebounds while Mims finished with 10 points.

Chatlos and Brady each had 12 to lead Bellarmine in scoring. Edelen dropped in 11 while Destiny Mattingly and Matheis had 10 apiece.

The Knights outrebounded S&T in the second half by a 19-to-11 margin and went 13-of-16 at the foul line while the Lady Miners were just 6-for-11 at the charity stripe.

S&T concludes its road trip through Kentucky on Saturday afternoon when it takes on Northern Kentucky beginning at 2 p.m. (CST).