Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners suffered their first defeat of the 2015-16 season losing to Saginaw Valley State 61-47 in the final game of the Lady Miner Classic on Saturday afternoon. S&T shot only 36.4 percent (20-for-55) from the field and turned the ball over 21 times.

The Lady Miners (2-1) scored the first four points of the game before Saginaw Valley (2-2) went on a 16-3 run behind the play of Emily Wendling and Danielle Carriere who combined to score 10 of the 16 points in the run. Foul trouble plagued S&T in the opening 10 minutes as three Lady Miners were forced to the bench with two quick fouls. The Cardinals took advantage of that hitting seven free throws in the period.

Saginaw shot 46 percent from the field in the quarter and held a nine point lead at the break. S&T made only 4-of-14 shots (29 percent) from the floor and was just 2-of-4 at the line.

The Cardinals opened the second quarter with five straight points to extend the lead to double digits just 1:19 into the frame. The Lady Miners cut the margin to 10 on a layup by Bria Pierce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) but were never able to get the margin back under 10 as Saginaw outscored S&T 14-11 to head into the intermission with a 12 point advantage.

The Cardinals dominated the first seven-plus minutes of the second half building their lead to as many as 23 points after a pair of free throws by Anna Hall. The Lady Miners cut the margin to 17 on a layup by Linda Pagrode (Jaunolaine, Latvia/Riga 99) with less than a minute to play in the stanza. Saginaw outscored the Lady Miners 12-8 in points in the paint and 9-6 in points off turnovers.

S&T outscored the Cardinals 13-10 in the final quarter but were never able to get the deficit back to single digits. Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ), Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) and Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled) accounted for all 13 of the Lady Miner points in the stanza.

S&T had no answer on the defensive end for Wendling and Grace Whelan as the duo accounted for roughly half of Saginaw's point total. Wendling had a game-high 17 points and Whelan dropped in 10. The Cardinals shot 45 percent (24-for-53) from the field and were 11-of-13 at the charity stripe.

Gray led the Lady Miners with eight points while Pierce had seven points and seven rebounds. Bland also had seven points. S&T outrebounded Saginaw 33-to-28, but the Cardinals had a 36-24 edge on points in the paint. The Lady Miners went 0-for-9 from the three-point line which snapped a streak of 51 consecutive games with a three-pointer made.

S&T is back in action next Friday taking on Angelo State in the St. Mary's (Texas) Thanksgiving Classic at 7:30 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena in San Antonio, Texas.