Box Score (Owensboro, Ky.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners found its groove on the offensive end and were able to cruise past Kentucky Wesleyan 74-58 on Saturday afternoon in Owensboro, Ky. Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) continued her strong play on the weekend scoring a game-high 24 points and had nine rebounds.

S&T (10-2, 5-0 GLVC) scored the first basket of the game on a layup by Quintonia Evans (Evansville, Ind./) 0:15 into the contest. Kentucky Wesleyan (8-4, 2-2 GLVC) answered back with a pair of free throws from Bianca Barton for the only tie of the contest on the ensuing possession.

Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) gave the Lady Miners a lead they wouldn't relinquish with a jumper at the 16:56 mark. After a Parks jumper made it 6-2, Lauren Goffinet brought the Panthers within one with a three. That would be the closest they got the rest of the way.

S&T made 7 of its first 8 shots on its way to 21-9 lead at about the midway point of the opening frame. The lead grew to 27-15 on a layup by Evans at the 4:50 mark.

KWC trimmed the deficit in half with six straight over a three-minute stretch, but Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) scored on a fast break layup and Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La./) buried a triple right before the half to send the Lady Miners into the break with a 32-23 lead.

S&T shot 61 percent (14-23) from the field in the opening half and outrebounded the Panthers by a 22-10 margin. Parks and Evans combined for 19 of the team's 32 points.

KWC struggled to make shots going 9-of-30 (30 percent) from the field. It stayed in the game thanks to making all four of its free throws. T'Essence Phelps had six points while Goffinet dropped in five.

S&T opened the second half on a 17-8 run in the first nine minutes to build an 18 point advantage. The lead grew to its largest of the contest at 56-34 on a three from Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) with 8:21 to play.

The Panthers tried to rally late but the Lady Miners made their last eight free throw attempts and shot 88 percent (15-17) at the foul line in the second half.

They outscored KWC 40-28 in the paint and had an advantage of 18 on the glass 41-23.

Parks and Evans were the only two S&T players in double figures. Evans had a career-high 13 points to go along with her seven rebounds. Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) added nine off the bench while Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef), Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) and Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) had five each.

The Lady Miners finished the contest shooting 54 percent (27-for-50) from the floor and were 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) at the foul line.

The Panthers shot just 34.4 percent (21-for-61) from the field but were a perfect 11-of-11 at the foul line.

Barton had 10 to lead KWC while Phelps dropped in nine. Katie Behrens and Goffinet added eight apiece.

S&T returns home next Thursday to take on Northern Kentucky beginning at 5:30 p.m.