Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners broke open a tight game at the half with a 15-5 run midway through the third quarter on its way to a 76-57 win over Westminster on Tuesday evening in Rolla. S&T (4-3) snapped a two-game home losing streak in the process and improved to 7-0 all-time against the Blue Jays (4-2).

Westminster came out of the gates flying hitting back-to-back three's to begin the game as it raced out to an early six point lead. Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) got the Lady Miners on the board with a three-pointer of her own 2:08 into the contest, but S&T had trouble stopping Krista Armontrout and Mackenzie Haddox who combined for nine points in the opening 10 minutes.

The Lady Miners finished the first frame scoring the final six points to take an 18-15 lead into the quarter break. That lead grew to six points early in the second period but the Blue Jays wouldn't go away tying the game at 25 on a layup by Haddox at the 4:59 mark.

S&T began to pull away over the next three minutes thanks to a 10-1 run behind four points from Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) and three from Gray. Gray hit a layup putting the Lady Miners up by nine with 0:29 left, but Sadie Theroff converted two free throws in the waning seconds of the half to make it 37-30 at the break.

After a slow start to begin the game S&T heated up shooting 48.4 percent (15-for-31) from the floor, connected on four of 10 attempts from downtown but was only 4-for-6 at the foul line. J. Douvier and Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled) provided a spark for the Lady Miners in the opening half combining for 17 points off the bench. S&T finished with a 20-to-12 edge on the boards.

Westminster made only 10 of 26 shots in the first half but did knock down 8 of 10 at the foul line to hang close at the break. Armontrout led the Blue Jays with nine points while Theroff dropped home eight.

The Blue Jays cut the Lady Miners halftime lead to five on a pair of free throws by Armontrout early in the third quarter before S&T rattled off the next eight points to build a 13-point lead at the halfway mark of the stanza. The Jays cut the lead to 10 on a three-pointer by Kasey Gatson but that would be the closest they got as the Lady Miners closed the quarter on an 11-2 run. Bland capped it off with a steal and score on the break to put S&T up 58-39 at the end of the frame.

The Lady Miners extended their run into the fourth quarter scoring 11 of the first 14 points to build their largest lead of the night at 69-42 with 6:06 left in the game. Westminster hit a couple of shots late to get the deficit under 20 but ended up trading baskets with S&T down the stretch.

Bland led four Lady Miners in double figures with 16 points. J. Douvier added 14, Gray chipped in 11 and Bria Pierce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) finished with 10. J. Douvier registered her second straight double-double finishing with a game-high 12 rebounds. S&T's bench outscored the Blue Jays bench 40-9 and dominated the paint outscoring Westminster 38-18.

The Lady Miners finished the game shooting 53 percent (30-for-57) from the floor, 4-of-10 from three and 75 percent at the foul line. They had a 38-to-23 advantage on the boards and 18-to-4 in fast break points.

Armontrout led Westminster with 13 points while Gatson added 12 and Andrea Zalis chipped in with nine. The Blue Jays shot just 36 percent from the field (19-for-53), connected on just 5-of-22 attempts from beyond the arc but did shoot 78 percent at the foul line.

S&T continues its three-game homestand on Saturday hosting Drury in a Great Lakes Valley contest beginning at 1 p.m.