Box Score (Phoenix, Ariz.) – It wasn't very pretty times but the Missouri S&T Lady Miners were able to grind out a 51-39 win over San Francisco State on Saturday in the Grand Canyon Thanksgiving Classic in Phoenix, Ariz.

S&T trailed 34-26 with 12:19 to play in the contest and were struggling on the offensive end with the Gators (0-5) defensive pressure. From that point on the Lady Miners outscored SFSU 25-5 to improve to 3-0 for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) got the run started with a driving layup then Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) buried a three from the left wing to pull S&T within a bucket. Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) tied the game at 34-all with a layup as the shot clock expired.

Kayla Davis gave the Gators their final lead of the contest with a jumper at the 6:57 mark.

From there the Lady Miners ran off the next 17 points. Taylor Jensen (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) hit a pair of free throws to it back up and then Kemp hit a pair at the charity stripe to take the lead for good.

The lead eventually grew to 15 points on a Meyer jumper with 0:27 left.

S&T shot only 37 percent (17-for-46) from the field but made the shots when it had to down the stretch. It outrebounded SFSU by a 39-to-31 margin. Defensively it blocked four shots and finished with 13 steals.

Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) led the Lady Miners with 11 points and had six rebounds. Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) finished with 10 points while Meyer added eight. Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) had seven rebounds.

The Gators were only 15-of-51 (29 percent) from the field and were led by Lauren Varney with 11 points. Candyce Matthews scored nine while Nicole Hicks added eight.

S&T is back at home next Thursday, Dec. 1, when it opens conference action against Maryville University beginning at 5:30 p.m.