KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri S&T's women's basketball team staged a rally in the fourth quarter to close the 2017-18 season on a winning note, outscoring Rockhurst 24-13 in the fourth quarter to pull out an 85-79 Great Lakes Valley Conference win at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse.

The victory, the first in a season finale for Missouri S&T since 1988, gives the Lady Miners a final record of 9-17 and a 4-14 mark in the GLVC.  It also did some potential damage to Rockhurst's hopes of reaching the GLVC Tournament, as the Hawks – who were sitting eighth in the playoff race entering the game – dropped to 10-16 and 6-12 in the conference.

S&T, who trailed 66-61 entering the fourth quarter and was down by as much as 17 in the third quarter, overtook the Hawks on a three-pointer by Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) with 5:57 to play.  Rockhurst regained the lead nearly three minutes later when Briathia Sebek hit a three-point shot, but Bria Pierce (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley North) hit a pair at the free throw line on the Lady Miners' next trip down the floor to put S&T in front for good at 75-74.

After getting a stop on the defensive end, Pierce knocked down a 16-foot jumper to extend the Lady Miner lead, then it became a free throw contest for S&T down the stretch.  The Lady Miners went 17of-20 at the line in the fourth quarter and made their final eight free throws in the final 1:20 of play.

S&T also got a key defensive stop in the final minute, as Pierce blocked a Sebek shot in the lane with the Lady Miners up by four with 33 seconds remaining; Jordan Kabetske (Republic, Mo./Republic) hit the last of the eight free throws and Rockhurst missed two three-point attempts after that.

The Hawks got off to a fast start, making 10 of their first 13 shots of the contest to take an early 13-point lead in the game.  S&T battled back and got the margin down to four following a lay-up by Janie Arand (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) at the 8:15 mark of the second quarter, but a quick 5-0 run by Rockhurst pushed its lead back to nine at 33-24.

The Lady Miners drew back to within four when Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern) – who hit her first five shots of the afternoon – knocked down a three with just under five minutes to go in the half – and were trailing by five in the final minute of the half before Brittany Meyer hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give the Hawks a 44-33 lead at the intermission.

Arand scored a game-high 25 points – including five three-pointers -- to lead the Lady Miners and finished her career ninth on the all-time scoring list at S&T with 1,130 points.  Raley finished the afternoon with 22 points, while Bland had 13 points and Pierce finished with 10 as S&T ended a four-game losing streak to the Hawks at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse and swept the season series from Rockhurst.

Madeline Ronshausen led Rockhurst  with 21 points before fouling out, while Sebek ended up with 17 and Jillian Myers with 16.