Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners held a six-point lead with 7:27 left in the game but went cold down the stretch and was outscored 12-3 the rest of the way in a 48-45 loss to Saint Joseph's on Thursday night at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The loss was the fourth in a row for S&T who fell to 5-8, 1-5 GLVC.

The Lady Miners trailed 28-26 at the break after leading for a majority of the first two quarters. The two sides traded baskets for the first four minutes of the third quarter as the Pumas (11-4, 4-1 GLVC) held a 33-30 lead after a Courtney Kvachkoff three-pointer with 6:09 left in the period. S&T dominated the final four minutes of the quarter with a 9-0 run taking a six-point lead into the final stanza. Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled) scored four of the nine points in the run while Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) hit a big three-pointer to give the Lady Miners the lead back. S&T held Saint Joseph's to just five points in the frame.

Kvachkoff hit the first of her three three-pointers in the fourth quarter to make it a three-point game with 8:39 to go. Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) answered 1:12 later with her fourth trey of the night to push the lead back to six. Kvachkoff hit back-to-back three's from nearly the same spot on the floor to tie the game with under five minutes to go.

The game remained knotted for the next two minutes until a pair of free throws by Rolanda Curington gave the Pumas a 44-42 lead. S&T had a chance to tie the game with 1:37 left but Linda Pagrode (Jaunolaine, Latvia/Riga 99) made only 1-of-2 at the line cutting the deficit to one. On the next possession Lauren Davis missed a jumper in the lane but grabbed her own rebound sitting on the floor and was able to get it to Kalea Parks who hit a 15-foot jumper from the right elbow to extend the lead to three points with 0:46 left.

The Lady Miners broke the pressure and found Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) on the left baseline and she hit an eight foot jumper with 0:28.5 left to make it a one point game again. After an S&T timeout it was forced to foul and ran 15 seconds off the clock before Greenwood fouled Davis who hit both free throws to make it 48-45. The Lady Miners had one more chance but Arand's desperation three at the buzzer was blocked by Parks to end the game.

S&T finished the game shooting 39.5 percent from the floor, shot 6-for-14 from downtown but was outrebounded 34-29. Arand was the lone Lady Miner in double figures with 12 points while Bria Pierce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) dropped in nine.

S&T did a good job defensively on Davis, who entered the game averaging 16.5 points per game, holding her to only six points. However, the Lady Miners struggled to stop Kvachkoff and Parks who combined for 34 of Saint Joseph's 48 points. The Pumsas finished the game shooting just 34 percent from the floor and were 6-of-18 from beyond the arc. They forced S&T to turn the ball over 25 times and outscored them 18-11 in points off turnovers.

The Lady Miners return to the court on Saturday against Indianapolis in a 1 p.m. contest at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Greyhounds fell to 3-12, 1-4 GLVC after falling at Drury 86-80 on Thursday.