St. Louis, Mo. – Bria Pierce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) scored a career-high 23 points on Saturday afternoon but it wasn't enough as Missouri S&T fell to the Maryville Saints 69-54 on Saturday afternoon in St. Louis. With the loss the Lady Miners were officially eliminated for a spot in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

S&T (8-16, 4-13 GLVC) had an early lead after a bucket by Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) before the Saints (11-13, 5-12 GLVC) went on a 14-2 run building an 11-point lead five minutes into the contest. The Lady Miners battled back cutting the lead 20-18 after a three-pointer by Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) with 1:20 left in the opening quarter but S&T couldn't slow down the Maryville attack as it led 27-22 at the end of the first quarter.

Pierce scored four of the Lady Miners first five points in the second quarter as they tied the game three minutes into the stanza, but once again the Saints answered going on a 9-0 run behind five points from Stephanie Sherwood to regain the lead.

S&T cut the lead to just six after a pair of free throws by Pierce and had a chance to get closer but a turnover late in the half led to two free throws by Alex Hillyer sending Maryville into the locker room with a 41-33 lead.

The Lady Miners shot 42 percent in the first twenty minutes but made only 2-of-8 attempts from three. Pierce scored 14 points in the first half while Arand added 10.

The Saints made 48 percent of their attempts from the field and were 5-of-11 from downtown. Ali Ringering had 13 points while Hillyer dropped in 10.

S&T cut the lead to seven early in the third quarter before Maryville rattled off six straight to build a 13-point lead. The Lady Miners cut the deficit to 47-38 after a layup by Bland and two free throws from Pierce with 6:59 left in the stanza.

The Saints stretched the lead back to double digits with seven straight points, but S&T cut the margin to 10 with 2:28 before Sherwood hit three straight three-pointers to give Maryville a 16-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The lead grew to 19 points four minutes into the final frame but there wasn't a lot of scoring in the final quarter as both teams combined for just 13 points as the Lady Miners scored five of the last six points in the contest. Neither side scored a point in the final 3:30 minutes.

S&T shot only 29 percent in the second half to finish the game making 18-of-50 shots from the field. It shot just 21 percent from three but was 14-for-18 at the foul line. The Lady Miners outrebounded the Saints 37-30 but turned it over 17 times resulting in 23 points for Maryville. The Saints had a 23-4 advantage in points off turnovers. Pierce had a game-high 23 points and Arand finished with 13.

Maryville only shot 37 percent in the second half but still finished the game over 40 percent knocking down 22-of-51 shots. The Saints shot 41 percent from downtown (9-for-22) and made 16-of-19 at the foul line. Sherwood led three Maryville players in double figures with 20 points while Hillyer had 19 and Ringering dropped home 15.

S&T concludes its 2015-16 season on Thursday traveling to Springfield, Mo., to take on the Drury Panthers at 5:30 p.m. at the O'Reilly Family Events Center.