Rolla, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners couldn't overcome cold shooting in the first half of its 72-46 loss to Illinois Springfield on Saturday afternoon at Billy Key Court in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both clubs. S&T (4-3, 0-1 GLVC) shot a season low 29 percent from the floor and made a season low 18 field goals in the contest.

The Lady Miners missed their first five shots of the game which allowed the Prairie Stars (6-1, 1-0 GLVC) to take an early six-point lead. Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern) and Ashley Harvey (Raytown, Mo./Raytown) made back-to-back field goals to cut the deficit to four but UIS outscored S&T 10-2 the rest of the stanza to carry a 19-7 lead into the second quarter.

The Lady Miners missed 13 of 16 shots in the first 10 minutes and were 0-of-3 from downtown while the Prairie Stars were 8-of-21 and knocked down three 3's in the opening frame.

S&T cut the deficit to 10 multiple times in the second quarter but were unable to get any closer the rest of the half. Michelle Borgen (Tinley Park, Illinois/Andrew) scored off a pass from Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) to make it 26-16 with 2:45 to go in the half but UIS countered by scoring nine of the 11 points to take a 15-point lead into the locker room.

The Lady Miners weren't much better in the second quarter making just four of 18 field goal attempts. Borgen had eight points and five rebounds while Harvey had four points to lead S&T at the intermission.

The Lady Miners had no answer for the Prairie Stars Destiny Ramsey in the opening half as she led all scorers with 12 points.

S&T began the third quarter on a 9-2 run highlighted by five points from Jordan Kabetske (Republic, Mo./Republic) but was unable to get any closer as UIS stretched its lead to 18 by the end of the quarter. The Lady Miners shot 40 percent from the floor in the quarter but the Prairie Stars were a little bit better knocking down 47 percent of their attempts.

Illinois Springfield led by as many as 28 points in the contest after a couple of free throws from Chasitee Shroyer with 0:14 left before Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled) made a layup in the closing seconds for the final margin.

Borgen led S&T with 13 points while Kabetske and Raley finished with seven and six points respectively. Raley pulled down a career-high seven rebounds.

Ramsey led all scorers with 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Shelbi Patterson added 15 points while Valerie Meissner and Jasmine Sangster added nine points each.

The Lady Miners return to action this coming Thursday traveling to St. Louis, Mo., to take on the Maryville Saints (3-3, 0-2 GLVC) at 5:30 p.m. The Saints suffered a 67-59 loss at Rockhurst on Saturday afternoon.