Box Score

(Owensboro, Ky.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners made it nine straight wins with a 71-66 win at Kentucky Wesleyan on Thursday night. S&T nearly let a pair of double digit leads slip away but were able to withstand a couple of late charges by the Panthers.

The Lady Miners (11-2, 5-0 GLVC) improved to 4-0 on their season long six-game road trip and are off to its best start since the 2007-08 season.

The game was back and forth early on as each team got off to a great start shooting the basketball. There were seven lead changes and a tie in the game's first five minutes. The low post play of Fareedah Washington (Forrest City, Ark./Forrest City), Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) and D'Naya Mims (Chicago, Ill./Harlan Community Academy) had all 10 points in the first five minutes for the Lady Miners.

Kentucky Wesleyan (7-4, 1-3 GLVC) regained the lead on a layup by Shelbi Tyra right after the first media timeout. It would be short lived though as Mims hit a layup and Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) buried the first of her three triples to make it 15-11.

The Panthers tied it at 15 all with four straight before S&T scored nine of the next 11 points to grab its biggest lead of the half at 24-17 with just over seven minutes to play. Knar had a pair of three's in the run while Parks had a bucket and Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) dropped in a point.

KWC answered that run with a run of its own and cut the advantage to 27-26 on a fast break layup by Bianca Barton.

S&T extended its lead back to four on a jumper by Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) and a three by Chelsea Stangel (Manitowoc, Wisc./Roncalli ) with just over three minutes to play.

The Panthers though grabbed a couple of two point leads but Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) answered with four points off the bench to tie the game at the half.

Each team shot the ball well in the first half as the Lady Miners shot 47 percent (14-for-30) from the floor and were 4-of-8 from downtown. Knar had nine to lead S&T while Parks had eight and three others had four apiece.

Kentucky Wesleyan was just a little bit better though as they shot 52 percent (16-for-31) but were just 2-of-11 from three. Karly Rhoads had seven while Tyra and Kristen Rowe had six each.

The Panthers opened the second half by scoring the first four points and built their biggest lead of the night at 40-36.

Parks tied the game for the Lady Miners with four straight points but Barton gave KWC its last lead of the night on a three with 16:13 to play.

The next six minutes belonged to S&T as turned up the pressure defensively triggering an 18-2 run in building its biggest lead of the night at 58-45. Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) started the run with six straight points. Knar and Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) each hit a pair of free throws while Sample buried a three.

The Lady Miners continued to hold a double digit advantage until the last six minutes when the Panthers began to make a run. They eventually closed to within 61-55 on a layup by Rhoads with 5:11.

Parks extended S&T's lead back to double digits with four straight points with 3:30 to play.

Rhoads cut the lead to seven with a three on the ensuing possession but Parks answered with a layup in transition to extend the advantage back to nine.

Tyra and Rhoads brought Kentucky Wesleyan to within five scoring four straight points with less than two minutes to play.

Kemp extended the lead back to six hitting 1-of-2 at the line. Rowe made it 68-64 with a layup but Washington pushed the advantage back to six with just over a minute to play.

Jordan Ogle hit a pair of free throws with 0:47 to make it 70-66 but Parks sealed the win with a free throw with 0:08 left.

S&T finished the game shooting 43 percent (25-of-58) from the floor, but were only 15-for-26 at the line.

Parks had a career-high 20 points while Knar dropped in 13. Washington had eight while Kemp and McLeod had six apiece. Mims had a career-high 12 rebounds.

The Panthers shot 44 percent (27-for-61) from the field and were 7-of-11 at the line. Rhoads led three KWC players in double figures with 13. Tyra had 11 while Rowe added 10.

The Lady Miners will go for its school record tying 10^th straight win on Saturday afternoon against Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind., beginning at 1 p.m.