St. Joseph, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners had a difficult time guarding the three-point line allowing Missouri Western to shoot 55 percent (11-for-20) from beyond the arc in an 87-56 loss on Friday evening at the Holiday Inn Express/Candlewood Suites Classic hosted by Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Mo. Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) and Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) were the lone players to reach double figures for S&T (3-2) with 15 and 11 points respectively.

The Lady Miners got off to a good start scoring the first five straight points to begin the game and eight of the first 11 to take the early lead less than six minutes into the contest. They squander an opportunity for a bigger lead making only five of 10 foul shots in that span. The Griffons (5-1) countered with a 7-1 run to grab their first lead of the contest on a bucket by Chelsea Dewey. That lead didn't last long as Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) got a rebound off a miss and found Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) who hit a three to put S&T back in front 12-10 with less than two minutes to go in the opening quarter. MWSU tied the game on a jumper from Erin Anderson but Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) gave the Lady Miners the lead at the end of the quarter grabbing a loose ball and laying it in before the horn sounded.

The two sides continued to go back-and-forth over the first four minutes of the second quarter with the Griffons erasing a three-point deficit to take a 20-17 lead. S&T tied the game with 5:59 left in the frame on an old-fashioned three-point play from Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) but then MWSU got hot from three making six straight three's over the final six minutes of the first half. Savannah Lentz got it started hitting back-to-back three's to put the Griffons ahead 26-20. Arrica Daye brought the Lady Miners back to within three at 26-23 with a triple of her own but that would be the closest S&T got the rest of the way.

After a free throw put Western up 27-23, Lakota Goe then hit back-to-back three's and Lentz added another three to put the Griffons ahead 36-23 with 2:17 left in the half. The Lady Miners cut the deficit to 36-27 getting back-to-back buckets from Daye and Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern) before Erin Anderson extended the lead back to double digits with another three. Gray made a pair of free throws in the final minute of the half to make it a 10-point game but on the ensuing possession Lentz was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws to give Western a 42-29 lead at the break.

S&T came out of the break cutting the Griffon advantage to eight early in the third quarter before Missouri Western went on a 13-2 run in a span of 4:30 to extend the lead 59-40. Foul trouble caught up with the Lady Miners in the third quarter as the Griffons went to the foul line 20 times and made 13 of those to pull away.

Missouri Western led by as many as 33 and hit three more three-pointers in the final frame. S&T couldn't overcome poor shooting in the second half making only 31 percent of its shot attempts from the field and went just 2-for-13 from beyond the arc. The Lady Miners turned the ball over 25 times in the contest resulting in 31 points for the Griffons.

Lentz led four Missouri Western players in double figures with 20 points. Dwanisha Tate added 14, Lakota Goe dropped in 13 and Dewey finished with 11.

S&T looks to bounce back on Saturday afternoon taking on Northwest Missouri State at 3 p.m.