Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners dropped its Great Lakes Valley Conference opener to Maryville 74-64 on Thursday evening at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Lady Miners (2-3, 0-1) outshot the Saints (5-1, 1-0 GLVC) 48 percent to 36 percent, but Maryville went to the foul line 18 more times than S&T and made 13 more than the Lady Miners.

The Saints opened the game scoring five straight points at the foul line before S&T broke nearly a four minute drought with a layup by Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) to get on the board. That layup sparked an 8-0 run for the Lady Miners, but Maryville countered with a 10-0 run to regain the lead. Alex Hillyer sparked the Saints with five of those points.

S&T was able to cut the deficit to four on a three-pointer by Rachel Gray in the closing seconds of the opening quarter. The Lady Miners had an 8-2 edge in the paint over Maryville, but the Saints had the edge in points off turnovers and second chance points.

The Lady Miners continued to stay within that four point margin for the early portion of the second quarter before Maryville used a 6-2 surge to extend the lead to 31-21 on one of six three's by freshman Stephanie Sherwood.

S&T responded in the final two minutes scoring eight straight points cutting the deficit to 31-29 on a three-pointer by Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) with 0:21 left in the half, but the Saints went into the break with a four point cushion on a driving layup by Sherwood with 0:06 left in the frame.

The Lady Miners shot 38 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and made 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. They were 4-of-6 at the charity stripe and doubled up Maryville on points in the paint 16-8. Greenwood led S&T with seven points while Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) chipped in with five.

The Saints shot only 35 percent (10-for-29) in the opening half, knocked down 5 of their 15 attempts from three and went 8-for-10 at the foul line. Sherwood led all scorers with 13 points in the frame while Hillyer dropped in 10.  

Maryville opened the second half scoring the first five points to extend its lead to 38-29 less than a minute into the third quarter. The Lady Miners countered with an 8-1 run over the next three minutes to get back within 39-37 on a pair of free throws by Gray. That would be the closest S&T got though as the Saints answered with a 7-0 run to extend the lead back to nine.

The two sides traded baskets for the rest of the period as Maryville took a 57-50 lead into the final frame.

The Saints extended the lead back to double figures two minutes into the final stanza but the Lady Miners continued to battle cutting the deficit five points with 7:29 left in the game. Foul trouble caught up with S&T though as Maryville went 8-for-11 at the foul line down the stretch to pull away for the 10-point win.

J. Douvier and Arand led the Lady Miners with 13 points apiece off the bench while Gray and Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) added eight points each. S&T finished the game knocking down 23 of its 48 attempts from the floor, shot 47 percent (8-for-17) from downtown and nailed 83 percent of its attempts at the foul line. The Lady Miners had problems on the offensive glass giving up 20 offensive rebounds which resulted in 20
points for the Saints.

Sherwood led all scorers with a game-high 24 points while Hillyer dropped in 21. Maryville took 10 more shots than and made two fewer but went 9-for-25 from beyond the arc. The Saints also shot 77 percent at the foul line. Maryville forced S&T to turn the ball over 24 times resulting in 25 points.

The Lady Miners return to action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to St. Louis to take on the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons at 1 p.m. The Tritons lost to Drury 74-65 on Thursday.