Rolla, Mo. – Katy Brown's jumper with 0:51 broke a 66 all tie to give the Missouri S&T Lady Miners a 68-66 victory over Webster in an exhibition contest for both squads on Thursday evening in Rolla. Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern) led three Lady Miners in double figures with 16 points while Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) added 15 and Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) dropped home 10.

S&T raced out to an early 11-2 lead in a hot-shooting first quarter as it made its first six shots of the contest including a pair of three's. Turnovers were the problem though in the opening frame as it committed 10 turnovers resulting in six points for Webster. The Lady Miners held an eight-point lead after a three-pointer by Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled), but the Gorloks closed the quarter scoring the final four points to trim the lead to four at the quarter break.

Raley scored S&T's first five points of the second quarter but Webster refused to go away and eventually grabbed a 24-23 lead after a basket by Kelsey Miller with 7:25 left in the half. The Lady Miners regained the lead on a three from Gray but the two sides continued to swap baskets. With the score tied at 35 in the closing seconds of the half Aricca Daye (Des Moines, Iowa/Des Moines East) was fouled but made only 1-of-2 at the line then Ebony Bailey went the length of the floor and hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Gorloks a 37-36 lead at the intermission.

S&T shot 58 percent in the second quarter but nine turnovers resulted in 10 points for Webster and it outscored the Lady Miners 14-6 in the paint. S&T finished the opening half shooting 67 percent (14-for-21) from the field and was 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. Gray led the Lady Miners with eight points at the break while Raley added seven more.

The Gorloks extended their lead with an 8-2 run in the first 4:20 of the second half to grab their biggest lead of the night at 45-38 on a layup by Kaitlin Snyder. After an S&T timeout, it responded with seven straight to tie the game getting five of those from Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia). Webster charged back in front scoring five of the next seven points before the Lady Miners closed the quarter scoring the last four on a free throw by Daye and three from Raley.

S&T scored eight of the first 10 points in the final quarter to push its lead back to seven at 59-52 with 7:07 to play but to the Gorloks credit they continued to hang around and tied the game on a jumper by Taylor Lucas with 1:13 to go. Brown answered on the ensuing possession hitting a 15-foot jumper from the right elbow to give the Lady Miners back the advantage.

Bailey missed a layup on Webster's next possession and came away with the rebound. The Gorloks were forced to foul but S&T threw the ball away giving Webster another shot. After a timeout advanced the ball, the Gorloks had a chance but Miller was called for an offensive foul driving to the basket and the Lady Miners were able to run out the clock to secure the win.

S&T shot 59.1 percent from the field in the second half and ended the game making 63 percent of its attempts. It was 8-for-11 from the three-point line but shot just 6-of-11 at the charity stripe. After turning the ball over 19 times in the first half, the Lady Miners did a better job in the second half committing just 10 turnovers.

Webster finished the game with four players reaching double figures in scoring led by Jade Sawyer with 13 while Miller, Bailey and Jaysea Morgan had 10 each.

S&T opens its season on the road next Friday to Stephenville, Texas to take on Tarleton State at 5 p.m., in the Tarleton State TexAnn Classic. The Lady Miners will then play Cameron University (Okla.) next Saturday at 12 p.m.