ROLLA, Mo. – A big second half performance lifted the Missouri S&T Lady Miners to a season opening 85-68 win over Henderson State on Saturday evening in Rolla. S&T (1-0) had four players in double figures and won its season opener for the 13^th straight year.

The Lady Miners and Lady Reddies (0-1) went back-and-forth for the 17 minutes of the contest as Henderson held a five-point lead, but S&T was able to stay within striking distance. The Lady Reddies broke a 33-all tie on a layup by Victoria Stewart sparking an 8-0 run over the next two-plus minutes and allowed HSU to build its largest lead of the night at 41-33 after a pair of free throws by Dulincia Keener.

The Lady Reddies had a chance to extend their lead to double digits in the closing seconds of the half but turned it over and the Lady Miners capitalized as Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) hit a three from the corner at the buzzer sending S&T into the locker room trailing 41-36.

Both teams shot over 40 percent in the opening half, but the difference was beyond the arc as Henderson State was 5-for-20 from three and S&T was just 1-of-4. The Lady Reddies were 8-for-10 at the foul line while the Lady Miners were 7-of-7 at the charity stripe. HSU held a 20-17 edge on the glass.

The Lady Reddies opened the second half with another three from Haleigh Henson extending its lead back to eight points. S&T then began to chip away at the deficit going an 8-2 run behind four points from Leigh-Ann Kesper (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) to trim the margin to 46-44 with 16:33 to play.  

Aungelique Sledge pushed the lead back to five with a three-pointer at the 15:37 mark and for the next seven minutes the Lady Miners played lock down defense holding HSU to just two points in that span. S&T cranked its offense back up scoring 17 straight points to take a 61-49 lead on Greenwood's second trey of the contest.

The Lady Reddies broke the run momentarily on a bucket by Deidra McCoy; however, S&T scored another six in a row to build a 16-point lead with 8:34 remaining. Henderson State wouldn't get closer than 12 points the rest of the contest as the Lady Miners shot 58 percent from the floor in the second half and had 10 players score in the contest.

S&T finished the game knocking down 35-of-69 shots (50.7 percent), was 3-for-7 from the perimeter and 12-for-12 at the foul line. It won the battle of the boards 36-33 and forced 23 Lady Reddie turnovers which resulted in 25 points.

Greenwood led the way with a career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Kesper also added a career-high 13 points while Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) and Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) finished with 12 and 10 points respectively.

Henderson State connected on just 30 percent of its shots in the second half and finished the game making 21 of its 57 attempts (37 percent). It was 8-for-32 from beyond the arc and 18-of-22 at the foul line. Sledge led the Lady Reddies with 18 points while Henson dropped home 16.

The Lady Miners are back at home on Tuesday evening when they host Hannibal-LaGrange at 7 p.m.