Romeoville, Ill. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners upset bid came up short in a 70-58 loss at ninth ranked Lewis on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Miners led for nearly 22 minutes in the contest, but a three-minute stretch in the third quarter proved to be the difference for the Flyers.

The game started out as a back-and-forth affair with the two sides trading baskets for the first five-plus minutes of the contest. Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) then hit a three from the right wing to give S&T (5-7, 1-4 GLVC) a 13-11 lead and sparked a 10-1 run over the final four minutes of the opening quarter. Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) capped the run hitting a three-pointer in transition just before the quarter ended to give the Lady Miners a 20-12 lead.

Lewis (14-1, 5-0 GLVC) began the second quarter with a 6-1 run to cut the S&T lead to 21-18 after a Tiana Karopulos jumper. The Lady Miners answered back scoring seven of the next 12 points to push the lead back to five after a three-pointer by Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) from the top of the key. The Flyers countered with an 8-2 run to take a 31-30 lead in the closing seconds of the half, but the Lady Miners went into the break with the lead as Linda Pagrode (Jaunolaine, Latvia/Riga 99) was fouled on a drive to the basket with 3.7 left and hit both free throws to put S&T up 32-31.

After shooting 50 percent in the opening quarter the Lady Miners were held to just 2-of-12 shooting in the second quarter and finished the half shooting 37 percent (11-for-30) from the field. They were 3-of-8 from the perimeter. Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) led S&T with eight points in the first 20 minutes while Bria Pierce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) added six and Arand had five.

Lewis shot only 36 percent in the first quarter but made 7-of-16 in the second quarter to ending the half shooting 40 percent. The Flyers knocked down 40 percent of their attempts from three and shot 75 percent at the foul line. Mariyah Brawner-Henley and Kayla Brewer led Lewis with eight points each in the first half.

The Lady Miners opened the third quarter scoring the first five points to extend its lead to 37-31 just 61 seconds into the quarter. The Flyers countered with five straight of their own to cut the lead back to one only 75 seconds later. Pierce helped extend the lead with four points to extend the lead back to four with two free throws and a basket.

S&T had opportunities to extend the lead over the next couple of minutes but were unable to score against the stingy Lewis defense. The Flyers then used a 12-0 run over the next three minutes to grab an eight point lead. The Lady Miners cut the lead to six on a pair of free throws by Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled), but Lewis scored the final four points of the stanza to take a 10-point lead into the final quarter.

S&T scored six of the first eight points of the final quarter behind a pair of three's from Arand to cut the deficit to 55-49 with 7:25 left in the contest. That would be the closest they got though as the Flyers held a 10-point lead for the rest of the game eventually winning by the 12-point margin.

The Lady Miners made only 8-of-29 from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting 32.2 percent (19-for-59) from the floor. They hit 7-of-15 attempts from three and shot 81 percent at the foul line. Pierce led three S&T players in double figures with 15 points. Arand added 13 while Douvier finished with 11.

Lewis finished the game shooting 48 percent (26-for-54) from the floor, was 7-of-16 from three and 11-for-16 at the foul line. Jessica Kelliher led all scorers with 17 points while Brawner-Henley and Tiana Karopulos had 13 points each. Brawner-Henley also had a game-high 20 rebounds.

The Lady Miners return home next Thursday to take on Saint Joseph's in a GLVC contest beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.