Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners used a strong first half to surge past the William Jewell Cardinals 78-48 on Saturday afternoon on Billy Key Court. S&T made 8 of its first 10 shots en route to the blow out win.

The Lady Miners (18-7, 12-5 GLVC) scored the first seven points of the contest on Saturday and wouldn't look back. Courtney Kemp (Fredricktown, Mo./Fredricktown) had four of those first seven points.

The Cardinals (13-10, 8-9 GLVC) got within 7-3 on an old fashioned 3-point play from Holly Switzer at the 16:46 mark. They wouldn't get any closer the rest of the contest.

S&T answered by scoring 14 of the next 17 points over the next six minutes to take a commanding 21-6 lead into the under 10 minute timeout. Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) had four in that game deciding run while Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) and Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) had three apiece.

WJC closed to within 25-10 on a layup by Aerial Smith with 8:49 to play.

The Lady Miners built its largest lead of the contest going on a 15-0 run over the next seven minutes to build a 40-10 advantage on a layup by Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) at the 1:44 mark. Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) and Sample combined to 10 of the 15 points in the run.

The Cardinals scored the final four points of the half to close within 40-14 at the break.

S&T shot 67 percent (14-for-21) from the floor, was 3-of-6 from downtown and 9-for-12 at the foul line in the opening frame.

Sample led the way with eight points while Meyer, Kemp and McLeod added six points each. The Lady Miners outrebounded WJC by a 15-11 margin and turned 11 Cardinal turnovers into 13 points.

William Jewell was just 5-of-23 (22 percent) in the opening half, 0-for-8 from behind the arc and 4-of-5 from the foul line. Tesia
Danner had four points while Chelsea Meeks added three more.

The Cardinals came out of the halftime break strong opening the second half on a 15-4 run to get within 46-29 on a layup by Switzer at the 14:11 mark.

Sample and Meeks traded three's to keep the game at a 17-point margin on ensuing possessions.

S&T stretched its lead back to 24 on a putback by Quintonia Evans (Evansville, Ind./) with 9:57 to play. The lead dipped below 20 only once the rest of the way.

Pretty much everybody scored for the Lady Miners as Yael Pelleg (Rishon Lezion, Israel/) hit a three with less than a minute to play to make it a 30-point final margin.

Meyer and Sample led the way with 12 and 11 points respectively. Kemp added nine while Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La./) dropped in eight and Parks chipped in with seven.

S&T finished the game shooting 59 percent (26-for-44) from the floor and was 7-of-13 from downtown. The one downside was the shooting at the foul line as it was just 19-for-31 (61.3 percent).

The Cardinals were 19-of-50 (38 percent) from the field but made just 10.5 percent (2-for-19) from downtown. They were 8-of-9 at the foul line. Meeks finished with a game-high 16 points, 13 in the second half. Smith and Katlyn Wood dropped in six each.

The Lady Miners close out the regular season at Drury next Thursday night at 5:45 p.m. S&T has also clinched a first round home game in the GLVC Tournament which will probably be next Sunday afternoon at a time to be announced.