Box Score (Rolla, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners broke a six-game losing streak against Lewis by making several critical plays down the stretch in its 69-62 win on Saturday afternoon. The win is the first over the Flyers in Rolla.

The game on Saturday found both teams struggling to score from the floor in the early going as S&T (7-4, 3-0 GLVC) made only 2 of its first 16 field goal attempts while the Flyers (8-2, 1-1 GLVC) connected on just 3 of their first 14 attempts from the field.

Lewis led 15-9 behind a pair of 3-pointers off the bench from Alexus Grayer with 8:56 left in the opening half. Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) sandwiched a pair of triples around a Grayer jumper to close to within 17-15 more than a minute later. The Flyers pushed their lead back to four on a jumper from Jess Reinhart with 6:45 left.

The Lady Miners answered with six straight points getting back-to-back old-fashion three-point plays from Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) and McLeod to retake the lead. Labrenthia Murdock answered with a layup off a steal to tie it, but Kylie Cooper (Andover, Kan./Andover) countered with a layup on the other end to give S&T the lead back. It would be short lived though as Reinhart hit a jumper and then Grayer hit her third 3-pointer of the half to put Lewis back up 26-23 at the 3:27 mark.

Parks trimmed the deficit to a point hitting a jumper at the 1:41 mark, but Kristen Itschner made 1-of-2 at the foul line pushing the lead back to two with less than a minute to play in the half. The back-and-forth action continued as Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La./) hit a 3-pointer with 0:40 left and then Cooper added a layup just before the break sending the Lady Miners into the break with a 30-27 advantage.

There were four ties and four lead changes in the opening stanza. After its rough start to open the contest, S&T 10 of their last 20 attempts from the floor to finish the half shooting 33 percent (12-for-36). The Lady Miners were 4-of-11 from downtown and 2-for-4 at the foul line. McLeod had nine of the bench to lead S&T while Cooper dropped in eight and Parks contributed seven to the effort.

Lewis made 7 of its final 14 shots as well and went into the intermission shooting 35.7 percent (10-of-28). It was 3-for-5 from three and 4-of-8 at the foul line. Grayer led all scorers with 11 points.

The second half was a continuation of the first as the two sides continued to trade baskets. S&T led 38-32 with 15:16 to play, but the Flyers went a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 42-40 lead on a jumper by Grayer. They would stretch their lead to four on two free throws from Murdock near the halfway point of the second half. The Lady Miners countered with five straight points getting an old-fashioned 3-point play from Cooper and a layup from Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) to retake the lead with 9:30 to play.

Reinhart answered on the other end with a jumper putting Lewis up one with 9:19 remaining. Neither side scored for 1:30 when Knar was fouled shooting a 3-pointer at the 7:48 mark. She would make all three free throws putting S&T in front 52-50. The two sides would go back to trading baskets as Reinhart and Murdock sandwiched a pair of jumpers around a layup by Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) tying the game at 54-54 with 6:36 left in the contest. Knar made a three to put the Lady Miners ahead, but Sam Rinehart countered on the next possession to tie the game back up with less than six minutes to play.

Sample put S&T back ahead with two free throws with 5:10 to go, but Lewis would score its next three points at the foul line to take a 60-59 lead with 3:43 to play. The Lady Miners took control from there as Knar keyed a 10-0 run hitting a 3-pointer with 2:33 to go giving S&T a 62-60 advantage and then hit another one at the 1:46 mark to push the lead to five. The Flyers went cold down the stretch and the Lady Miners hit four free throws in the final 0:33 seconds to secure the win. There were eight ties and six lead changes in the second half.

S&T shot 38 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting at a 36 percent (25-for-70) clip. It shot a season-high 23 three's, making seven of those and shot a season-high 80 percent (12-of-15) at the foul line. The Lady Miners had four players record double figures in scoring led by Cooper and Knar with 15 apiece. Parks and McLeod added 11 each. S&T had the edge on the glass 42-to-40.

Lewis shot 37 percent (20-for-54) from the field, 4-of-10 from three and was 18-for-24 (75 percent) at the foul line. Grayer and Murdock led three Flyers in double figures with 13 points each while Rinehart dropped in 11.

S&T returns to the hardwood next Thursday when it travels to Rensselaer, Ind., to take on Saint Joseph's College at 7:30 p.m.