Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners survived a fourth quarter rally to defeat Westminster 52-49 on Wednesday evening at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. S&T (6-3) struggled to get into an offensive rhythm in the second half shooting under 30 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 10 times.

The Lady Miners led by 11 after three quarters and opened the fourth quarter with four straight points to extend their lead to 46-31 1:30 seconds into the final frame. Westminster (2-6) countered with an 11-0 to cut the lead to four points with less than four minutes to go after Brooke Stauffer hit 1-of-2 at the foul line. Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) gave S&T a six-point lead back picking off a pass and taking it all the way for a bucket with 3:10 to go.

Andrea Zalis countered on the next possession hitting a three-pointer from the right wing to bring the Blue Jays to within a possession. Greenwood put the Lady Miners up five hitting a long two from the left wing with 2:11 to go but S&T couldn't put the Jays away missing a couple of shots under two minutes.

Mirrakohl Johnson hit an old-fashioned three-point play to bring Westminster to within 48-46 with 0:46 left. After a couple of timeouts the Lady Miners advanced the ball to the front court and Greenwood was fouled but missed both free throws. The Blue Jays came down and had a chance to tie but Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) knocked the ball out of bounds and then the Jays turned it over on the inbounds pass to Greenwood. She got the ball to Raetchel Gray (Allen, Okla./Byng ) in the front court and was fouled with 0:12 left. Gray made both free throws making it a two-possession game.

Zalis missed a three but Stauffer got the ball and was fouled with 2.8 seconds left. She made the first but missed the second and the ball went out of bounds off Westminster with 1.3 seconds remaining. S&T used its final timeout to advance the ball into the front court and was able to run out the clock.

The Lady Miners got off to a slow start making just one of their first 11 shots and trailed by as many as six in the opening quarter. Greenwood and Douvier combined to hit the final three shots of the quarter and tied the game at eight on Greenwood's layup before the buzzer.

S&T was hot in the second quarter knocking down 10-of-19 shots as it outscored the Blue Jays 25-12 in the frame. Gray led the charge scoring 11 points and hit three three's in the frame. The Lady Miners used a 17-4 over a 4:30 stretch to build a 15-point lead before Zalis hit a jumper in the final seconds to make it a 13-point game at the intermission.

S&T finished the game shooting 37 percent (21-for-57) from the floor, 5-of-18 from downtown and shot only 63 percent at the foul line. It was outrebounded by Westminster 39-36 but did turn 19 Blue Jay turnovers into 18 points. Gray finished with 16 points while Greenwood dropped in 13. Katey Brown (Craig, Neb./Guardian Angels Central Catholic) added seven rebounds.

Westminster shot just 35 percent (18-for-52) from the field, 3-of-12 from the three-point line and 59 percent at the foul line. Johnson led all scorers with 19 points while Zalis added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lady Miners will take a break for finals next week then close out the first half portion of their schedule on Monday, Dec. 19 hosting Missouri Southern at 5:30 p.m.