ROLLA, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners dug themselves an early hole and weren't able to get out of it in a 67-54 loss against 20^th ranked Central Missouri on Saturday afternoon. The Jennies led for all but 0:41 in the contest.

The Jens (2-1) scored 13 of the game's first 15 points and raced out to an 11 point lead seven minutes into the contest. The Lady Miners (3-1) cut the deficit to eight on a three-pointer by Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) only to see UCM run off another seven in a row to extend its lead to the largest of the half at 20-5.

S&T continued scrapping and clawing getting the deficit under 10 points twice more in the half, but each time the Jennies countered to keep the lead in double figures at the break.
The Lady Miners shot only 33 percent (8-for-24) in the opening stanza, were 2-of-4 from downtown and made both of their free throw attempts. They held an 18-15 edge on the boards but were hampered by 15 turnovers resulting in 16 points for UCM.

Arand, Leigh-Ann Kesper (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) and Kimberly Runge (Freedom, Wis./Freedom) combined to score 13 of S&T's 20 points in the first half.

On the flip side the Jens shot 47 percent (14-for-30) was just 1-of-7 from three and made 50 percent of their foul shots. They dominated in the paint as well finishing the half with a 22-10 edge. Revonnia Howard led UCM with nine points while Justina Prairie Chief added seven and Danielle Barry had five off the bench.

The Jennies opened the second half on an 11-4 run over the first five-plus minutes to build their largest lead of the game at 19 points on a jumper by Howard. S&T heated up from the floor shooting 54 percent in the second half and hung with UCM in the stanza. It held the Jens to just 33 percent shooting in the second half but couldn't keep them off the foul line as the Jennies went 17-for-20 at the charity stripe.

Turnovers continued to plague the Lady Miners in the second half as well committing 10 resulting in 12 points for Central Missouri.

S&T finished the contest shooting 44 percent (22-for-50) from the field, was 5-of-10 from three and shot 83 percent at the foul line. The Lady Miners finished with 37-27 edge in rebounds and its bench outscored the Jens 38-14. Arand finished with a career-high 13 points while Runge added nine. Kesper and Linda Pagrode (Jaunolaine, Latvia/Riga 99) finished with eight each. Kesper finished with a career-high 12 rebounds.

The Jennies shot 41 percent (22-for-54) from the floor, shot 3-of-13 from the three-point line and shot 77 percent at the foul line. Prairie Chief led all scorers with 19 points and was joined in double figures by Howard with 14 and Jasmine Thompson added 13.

S&T returns to action on Tuesday evening when it travels to Monticello, Ark., for a match-up against Arkansas-Monticello beginning at 5:30 p.m.