Box Score (Louisville, Ky.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners held off a furious rally by Alabama-Huntsville in the final two minutes to win 79-76 and earn their fourth straight win on Sunday afternoon in Louisville, Ky. S&T (5-3) led 76-65 with 2:40 to go, but the Lady Chargers (5-6) finished the game scoring 11 of the last 14 points and had two chances to tie the game in the closing seconds, but came up short.

The Lady Miners trailed 7-4 in the first four minutes of the contest, but Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) got them going by scoring eight straight points to make it 12-7 by the 15:08 mark. S&T continued to hold an eight-point advantage for a majority of the first half thanks in large part to its foul shooting as it was 9-for-11 in the first half. The Lady Miners stretched its lead to 13 on a layup by Taylor Jensen (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) and two free throws by Parks to make it 28-15 with 6:24 left in the first half. UAH would cut the lead to 28-19 on a jumper by Dina Saunders and two free throws from Juanice Newton with less than five minutes to play in the opening stanza.

S&T responded by scoring six of the next nine points to take its largest lead of the half at 36-22 on a three from Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein). The lead would remain around 14 points until the closing seconds of the frame when Jordan Smith hit a three right before the half sending the Lady Miners into the intermission with a 42-31 advantage.

S&T shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the field, was 1-for-4 from three and connected on 81 percent of its free throw attempts (13-of-16). Parks led the way with 15 points and five rebounds while Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) added seven points and four rebounds. Jensen, Kylie Cooper (Andover, Kan./Andover) and Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La./) had four points each.

The Lady Chargers were held to just 27 percent shooting (9-of-33) from the field, 1-for-10 from three and was 12-for-15 at the foul line. Smith had nine points to lead UAH while Halle Jarnagin and Morgan Duncan had five points apiece.

The second half opened with a series of runs as Alabama-Huntsville scored the first four points of the stanza, but S&T answered with six straight and led 48-35 two minutes into the half. The Lady Miners extended their lead over the next nine minutes and eventually led by as many as 18 points with 9:21 left in the contest.

The Lady Chargers began to pick up the tempo and would cut the S&T advantage to 65-57 thanks to a 12-2 run behind eight points from their leading scorer Jasmine Hammon.

The Lady Miners withstood the stand and pushed their lead back to 11 on an old-fashioned three-point play from Parks with 3:33 remaining. Bailee Robinson converted on a layup with less than three minutes to go, but Cooper answered on the ensuing possession with a jumper in the paint to extend the lead back to double digits.

Jordan Smith hit back-to-back three's to pull UAH to within 76-71 with 1:47 left. It was the closest the Lady Chargers had gotten since it was 18-13. After a Hall miss, Smith hit a driving layup to make it a one possession game with 0:55 left. Cooper answered with another jumper in the paint with 0:28 left, but Smith raced down the floor and hit her fourth three of the contest to make it 78-76 only five seconds later.

Forced to foul Alabama-Huntsville fouled Hall and she went to the line and made 1-of-2 with 0:17 left to keep it at a one possession game. Smith missed the first chance to tie when her three was off the mark and then Hammon missed one after an offensive rebound and Cooper won the scramble for the loose ball as the clock expired.

S&T finished the game shooting 48 percent (29-for-60) from the field, was 1-for-8 from three, and 20-for-30 at the charity stripe (67 percent). It outrebounded the Lady Chargers by a count of 47-to-41, but turned it over 24 times. Parks led five Lady Miners in double figures with 22 points. Jensen finished with a career-high 11 points while Hall and Sample each chipped in with 11 as well. Cooper dropped home 10. Parks also led the way with 11 rebounds.

The Lady Chargers shot only 34 percent (25-for-73) from the field, were 6-of-24 (25 percent) from three and 20-of-25 (80 percent) at the foul line. Smith and Hammon led the way with 24 and 18 points respectively. The duo combined for 30 of UAH's 45 second half points.

S&T will be back in action on Monday when it takes on Millersville University (Pa.) at 12 p.m. (Central time) in the finale of the Metro Medical New Year's Classic at Bellarmine University.