ROLLA, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners dropped their third straight contest on Thursday evening to Bellarmine 65-61 at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. Four of S&T's last five losses have been decided by five points or less.

Neither side got off to a great start shooting the basketball as the Lady Miners (4-8, 0-4 GLVC) opened the game 3-for-13 while the Knights (8-3, 3-0 GLVC) made just three of their first 14 shots as there were six lead changes and nine ties in the first 20 minutes.

S&T led for a majority of the opening half before Bellarmine went on a 5-0 run to take a 22-18 after a three-pointer by Whitney Hartlage with 2:23 left in the stanza. The Lady Miners countered with five straight of their own as Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) hit a three-pointer and Kimberly Runge (Freedom, Wis./Freedom) made two free throws putting S&T back in front.

The two sides then traded points as Mackenzie Martinez put the Knights in front by one, but Arand answered on the other end with a pair of free throws with 0:30 left. It appeared that the Lady Miners would go into the locker room with a one-point lead, but Runge was whistled for a foul with 0:00.8 left on a three-point attempt and Raven Merriweather hit all three putting Bellarmine ahead 27-25 at the intermission.

S&T hit four of its last eight shots to end the frame shooting 33.3 percent (7-for-21) from the floor while making its only three-pointer attempted and went 10-of-13 at the foul line. It turned the ball over 17 times resulting in 15 points for the Knights. Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) and Runge had six points each to lead S&T while Arand added five.

Bellarmine attempted nine more shots than the Lady Miners and made two more to finish the half shooting 30.0 percent (9-for-30) from the field. It was 1-of-7 from beyond the arc and hit all 10 of its free throws. Hartlage and Merriweather combined for five points each while Mariah Gador had four points.

The two sides began the second half swapping baskets for the first six minutes before the Lady Miners scored five straight to grab a 36-33 lead after a layup by Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy). The Knights tied it on the next possession on a three from Merriweather with exactly 13 minutes to play. Arand answered in transition with a layup putting S&T back in front 38-36 on the ensuing possession.

That would be its last lead of the night as Bellarmine went on a 10-1 run to take a seven point lead on another three-pointer from Merriweather. The Lady Miners continued to trail by seven with more than five minutes to play when they scored six straight to cut the lead to 54-53 after a pair of free throws by Linda Pagrode (Jaunolaine, Latvia/Riga 99) with 2:46 to play.

Merriweather countered on the other end with a jumper from the free throw line to push the lead back to three on the next possession. Leigh-Ann Kesper (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) made it a one-point margin again with a jumper in the paint, but S&T couldn't get over the hump.

Morgan Clemons made 1-of-2 at the line to push the margin back to two and then on the next trip down Kesper was fouled but made only 1-of-2 to keep it a one-point game. The Lady Miners got a turnover and after a timeout had a chance to take the lead, but Pagrode's attempt from three was off the mark and the Knights capitalized on the other end as Destony Curry converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to make it a four-point game with 0:32 left.

Arand made it a one possession game 0:06 later hitting a layup, but S&T couldn't get a stop as Merriweather hit another layup pushing the margin back to four. Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) brought the Lady Miners back to within 62-61 with an old fashioned three-point play with 0:08 left, but was called for an intentional foul on the inbounds pass.

The Knights hit 1-of-2 and S&T was forced to foul again and Kelsey Adwell hit both free throws to ice the contest.

The Lady Miners shot 46 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting 19-for-47 from the floor. They were 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 20-for-25 at the foul line. They were outrebounded 36-to-31 and turned it over 25 times. Arand and Greenwood led S&T with 15 and 10 points respectively while Kesper added eight rebounds and seven blocked shots.

Bellarmine also shot 46 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game shooting 21-for-56 from the field. It was 4-of-13 from three and 19-for-21 at the foul line. Merriweather led all scorers with 17 points.

The Lady Miners are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host Southern Indiana at 1 p.m. The Screaming Eagles lost at Drury 64-54 on Thursday night.