Stephenville, Texas. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners overcame an eight-point first half deficit to defeat the Tarleton State TexAnns in the season opener for both squads at the Whataburger Classic in Stephenville, Texas. The win was the 15
th straight season opening win for S&T extending its school record.
The Lady Miners (1-0) and TexAnns went back-and-forth with each other all night as S&T led for nearly 17:30 minutes of the contest and Tarleton State held the lead for 20 minutes. The Lady Miners raced out to an early 7-2 advantage but had problems at the foul line making only 3-of-6 at the charity stripe in the opening period. The TexAnns led by as many as three in the first 10 minutes and had a chance for more but a missed three in the closing seconds led to a jumper by
Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled) to end the first quarter with S&T down only one at 17-16.
Tarleton State opened the second quarter scoring the first seven points to build a 24-16 lead with 8:08 left in the half forcing the Lady Miners to take a timeout. S&T cut the lead to 28-24 after a layup by
Jordan Kabetske (Republic, Mo./Republic) but the TexAnns pushed the lead back to eight points on a layup by Tiara Tatum with 5:40 left in the half. The Lady Miners closed the half scoring nine of the final 11 points while holding Tarleton to just one field goal to head into the locker room down 34-33 at the half.
Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) sparked the rally with five straight points and
Kim Runge (Freedom, Wis./Freedom), who had a career-high 12 rebounds, and Bland each added baskets.
S&T finished the half shooting 36.1 percent from the field (13-for-36), was 3-of-11 from downtown and only 4-for-9 at the foul line. Arand led the Lady Miners with 11 points while Bland dropped home six.
The TexAnns shot 44 percent from the floor (14-of-32), hit only 2-of-11 from beyond the arc but shot 80 percent at the foul line. Tatum led all scorers with 12 first half points and Mackenzie Hailey added seven.
The Lady Miners began the second half on an 11-3 run getting three-pointers from
Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) and
Aricca Daye (Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines East) to build a six-point advantage four minutes into the second half. Tarleton countered with an 11-5 run of its own to retake the lead at 50-49 on a bucket from Ikpeaku Iwobi with 1:50 left in the frame. S&T tied the game back up on the next possession with Daye making 1-of-2 at the foul line. Both sides had opportunities to regain the lead but couldn't cash in until Hailey hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the quarter to give the TexAnns a 53-50 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Lady Miners took control in the final quarter making 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) shots from the floor and got a couple of big three's from Gray and
Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern) to regain the lead. Gray's three gave S&T the lead for good with 3:31 to play in the contest. Tarleton got to within one but would never regain the lead as
Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) made a big bucket down the stretch and Daye made a layup with 0:27 left to make it 68-65. On the ensuing possession, the TexAnns had a chance to tie the game but Kylie Collins missed the three and Iwobi got the rebound and was fouled with 0:11 left. She made the first and intentionally missed the second but Arand came away with the rebound.
Tarleton was forced to foul twice but S&T was able to run out the clock to hang onto the victory.
Daye scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the second half to go along with five assists and five steals. Arand added 13 points and Raley chipped in with nine off the bench. The Lady Miner bench outscored the TexAnns bench 23-11. S&T finished the game shooting 44 percent from the floor, 37 percent from three but made only 7-of-15 free throws. It was outrebounded by Tarleton 41-39 but only turned the ball over 15 times in the contest.
The TexAnns had three players reach double figures in scoring led by Tatum with a game-high 18 points. Hailey added 17 and Iwobi finished with 14. Hailey also grabbed 10 rebounds. The TexAnns shot only 29 percent from the field in the final quarter and finished the game shooting 40 percent. They were 5-of-18 from downtown and 7-for-11 at the foul line.
The Lady Miners are back in action on Saturday afternoon taking on Cameron University (Okla.) in a 12 p.m. contest at the Whataburger Classic in Stephenville, Texas.
