Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners came up on the short end of a 69-56 decision against the 16^th ranked Quincy Hawks on Saturday afternoon at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Lady Miners (6-12, 2-9 GLVC) struggled to defend the three-point line allowing a season-high 10 three-pointers.

S&T held a four-point lead in the opening quarter before the Hawks (18-2, 9-2 GLVC) went on an 8-0 run in a span of a 1:41 to grab a 14-10 advantage. The Lady Miners were their own worst enemy in the opening 10 minutes turning it over eight times and allowing five offensive rebounds to Quincy. The Hawks took 15 shots in the quarter to just six for S&T.

The Lady Miners still trailed by three with less than four minutes to go in the first half after a layup by Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled), but Quincy went on another run to build its lead to 11 in a span of 1:45. Megan Wienstroer and Cierra Young hit three's to bookend the run.

S&T continued to scrap cutting the lead to just seven at the break on back-to-back baskets by Bland and Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) and had a chance to get closer but Bland missed a shot right before halftime.

The Lady Miners shot 45 percent (9-for-20) from the field in the first 20 minutes, 3-of-6 from downtown, but made only 2-of-4 at the foul line. Bland led S&T with seven points while Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) dropped home six and Arand added five.

The Hawks were held to 32 percent shooting (10-for-31) in the half, but went 7-of-17 from the three-point line. Their bench, led by Wienstroer and Anika Webster, outscored the Lady Miners bench 21-9. Webster and Nikia Edom had nine points each while Wienstroer contributed eight.

S&T scored on its first possession to start the third quarter cutting the deficit to four on a three-pointer by Arand. Quincy responded with a 13-2 run behind six points from Erin Mennemeyer and four from Carly Beebe to build its largest lead of the game at 43-28.

The Lady Miners cut the lead to nine with 1:48 left in the stanza after a layup by Gray but the Hawks ended the quarter scoring five of the final seven points to head into the last stanza with a 53-41 lead.

Maggie Cunningham put Quincy ahead by 14 with a jumper early in the fourth quarter then S&T began to chip away at the lead thanks to a 10-2 run behind five points from Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy). On the next possession Webster converted on an old fashioned three-point play to extend the lead back to nine.

That three-point play sparked the Hawks over the final five minutes as they finished the game scoring nine of the final 14 points to seal the victory.

The Lady Miners finished the game shooting 45 percent (22-for-49) from the field, hit 6-of-15 attempts from the three-point line but shot only 50 percent at the foul line. They outrebounded Quincy 33-30 but turned the ball over 20 times. Bland led S&T with 15 points while Gray had 11.

The Hawks shot 54 percent in the second half (14-for-26) to finish the game at 42.1 percent. They were 10-of-25 from downtown and 11-for-13 at the foul line. Webster led four players in double figures with 15 points while Cunningham added 14.

The Lady Miners continue their four-game homestand next Thursday against Bellarmine at 5:30 p.m. The Knights defeated Indianapolis 70-50 on Saturday.