Louisville, Ky. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners cut a 22-point halftime deficit to five points with 9:20 to go in the game but were unable to complete the comeback in a 78-66 loss to the 15^th ranked Bellarmine Knights on Saturday afternoon at Knights Hall in Louisville, Ky. S&T (8-13, 3-10 GLVC) shot 54 percent from the floor in the second half and hit 7 of 11 three's in the final 20 minutes.

The Lady Miners stormed out of the locker after the half outscoring the Knights (18-4, 10-3 GLVC) 18-5 in the first seven minutes of the third quarter cutting the Bellarmine lead to 50-41. They had a chance for more but missed a couple of layups on the fast break. The Knights scored four straight from the foul line including two after a technical foul on the Lady Miner bench to extend their lead to 13 points.

S&T continued to chip away at the lead scoring 10 of the last 13 points of the quarter to cut the deficit to six by the end of the period. The Lady Miners shot 59 percent from the floor in the frame and were 4-of-5 from three. Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) had 11 points in the quarter while Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern) hit three three-pointers for nine points.

Bellarmine extended the lead to eight early in the fourth but another from Raley made it a five-point game with 9:20 to play. The Knights took advantage of a couple of turnovers to extend their lead back to double digits after layups from Destony Curry and Raven Merriweather. S&T continued to battle back thanks to five straight from Raley to make it a 65-59 lead with 5:14 remaining. The Lady Miners got a steal on the ensuing possession and had a chance to make it a four-point game but missed a shot in transition.

Bellarmine took advantage of the miss scoring four straight to push the lead back to 10 after a pair of free throws from Sarah Galvin. S&T got the deficit under 10 after a layup from Arand but were unable to get any closer as the Knights scored nine of the last 14 points to secure the win.

The Lady Miners were unable to overcome a slow start shooting just 25 percent in the first quarter while Bellarmine made 11-of-17 shots in the first 10 minutes to grab a 23-8 lead after one. The Knights lead grew to 45-20 with less than a minute to go in the second quarter but S&T was able to score the final three points of the half to cut into the lead.

The Lady Miners finished the game shooting 48 percent (24-for-50) from the field and outshot Bellarmine for the game. S&T was 7-of-18 from three and shot 73 percent at the foul line. Raley led the Lady Miners with a career-high 20 points, all in the second half, and made a career-high six three's. Arand added 19 while Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) finished with six.

Bellarmine shot only 432 percent (26-for-61) from the floor for the game, was 2-of-11 from downtown but went 24-for-33 at the foul line. Sarah Galvin led three Knights in double figures with 22 points while Merriweather added 20 and Beth Bowers chipped in with 11.

S&T returns home next Thursday to take on Illinois Springfield at 5:30 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.