Box Score (Springfield, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners outscored Missouri Western 11-1 over the final 3:20 turning a 71-66 deficit into a 77-72 victory on Saturday evening in the DoubleTree/Houlihan's Classic hosted by Drury University. With the win the Lady Miners (4-2) snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Griffons (4-2) dating back to a 70-66 win on Jan. 11, 1997 in Rolla.

S&T, just like Friday night against Union, led for the first 31 minutes in this one, but never could shake the Griffons. The Lady Miners held a 53-47 advantage after two Kylie Cooper (Andover, Kan./Andover) free throws with 11:49 to play before Missouri Western went on a 12-3 run to take a 59-55 lead with 8:54 to play for their first lead of the contest.

S&T answered back with five straight of its own to retake the lead 60-59 with less than seven minutes to play. The see-saw affair continued with the Griffons scoring 12 of the next 18 points to build its largest lead of the night at 71-66 on a three from Sharniece Lewis with 4:02 to play.

The Lady Miners began to chip away at the lead with two free throws by Jaaron Kassanavoid (Lawson, Mo./Lawson) which started the game deciding run. Tiara Hall made 1-of-2 at the charity strip to extend the MWSU lead to 72-68. Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) made it a two-point game on the ensuing possession with a layup then after getting a stop on the defensive end Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) hit 1-of-2 to cut the lead to 72-71.

Kylie Cooper (Andover, Kan./Andover) forced Tiffanie Abrams to take a tough shot, got the rebound and was fouled. She would make both free throws to give S&T the lead for good with 1:04 left. The Lady Miners got another defensive stop and then Knar hit an off-balanced jumper in the lane to make it a three-point lead. She was also fouled on the play, but couldn't convert the three-point play.

The Griffons came down needing a three and went to Ariana Novak, their leading scorer, but her attempt was off the mark and Erica Askew (Chicago, Ill./Morgan Park) came away with the rebound. Askew was fouled and would hit both free throws to ice it.

S&T finished the contest shooting 52 percent (26-for-50) from the floor, was 4-of-10 from three and made 70 percent of its free throws (21-for-30). It was outrebounded by MWSU 44-to-41 and allowed 24 offensive rebounds resulting in 19 second chance points for the Griffons. Knar and Cooper led four players in double figures with 16 each. Kassanavoid dropped home 14 while Askew chipped in with 12. Knar was named to the all-tournament team.

Missouri Western took 73 shots in the contest, but only made 26 of them (35.6 percent), connected on 32.3 percent (10-for-31) from beyond the arc and was just 10-of-22 at the charity stripe. Lewis led all scorers with 22 points, 15 of which came in the second half, Novak finished with 17 points while Quenisha Lockett had 10 points.

The Lady Miners return to Springfield next Thursday to begin GLVC play against Drury at 5:30 p.m.