ROLLA, Mo. – Looking to rebound after seeing their two-game winning streak snapped Thursday, the Missouri S&T women's basketball team was back on the court at Gibson Arena to host Rockhurst in the second of two matchups between the schools this season. The Miners (7-9, 4-6) scored first and led from start to finish and led by as much as 29 points during the game as they recorded a convincing win over the Hawks (9-5, 5-3) by a score of 78-56.
Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) kicked the afternoon off with a pull-up jumper in the lane followed by a three as the Miners opened the afternoon on a 10-1 run, with
Alex Kerr (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) also scoring five points during the sequence. Rockhurst was briefly able to close the gap to three on several occasions over the final minutes of the quarter, including the final minute to make it 21-18 after 10 minutes.
The Hawks got within one following a basket to open the second quarter but that would be as close as they would come to the lead for the remainder of the afternoon. The Miners responded by connecting on three-straight triples from
Michaela Davis (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk),
Marta Durk (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township) and Rodriguez as part of an 18-0 run that spanned over six minutes of game action and was broken up by a 1-2 trip to the stripe by the Hawks. Durk connected on another three moments later before the Hawks finally scored their first field goal of the period on a three with 46 seconds to go to make it a 42-24 game heading to the locker rooms as S&T outscored RU 21-6 in the frame.
A Rockhurst three kicked the second half off but was answered by jumper from Durk to make it 44-27. After another 1-2 trip to the stripe from Rockhurst and a missed field goal from the Miners,
Kristen Keys (St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian Academy) came up with a steal and brought the ball back over the line before misfiring on a three-point attempt. The long rebound caromed out to Rodriguez, who fired a deep three from and connected with 7:06 to go to record her 21st points of the game but more importantly, become the 17th Miners in program history to surpass 1,000 points in a career, joining Kerr who did so on Monday at Quincy. The baskets kept falling as the period went on for S&T and after 30 minutes had come and gone, the Green & Gold led 63-36.
As the final period commenced, the Miners continued to keep the Hawks at bay and led by as much as 29 on two occasions, the final time being with 7:23 to go after a
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) free throw. The lead never fell below 21 as time ticked by and despite some late life from Rockhurst, it was a case of too little, too late as the Miners recorded their third win in the last four games by a final of 78-56.
Rodriguez led all scorers with 28 points on 10-17 shooting, including 6-10 from three-point land. Kerr finished with 11 points and four rebounds while Durk added 10 on 3-5 from beyond the arc. 11 different Miners scored in the game, including
Katarina Zagorac (Novi Sad, Serbia/Gymnasium Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj) who scored her first points in an S&T uniform in the second half. As a team, S&T shot better than 40% from the floor for the fourth-straight game and connected on 12 three-pointers, the second-most in a game this season and the third time connecting on 10 or more in a game.
Up next for S&T, they host Indianapolis Monday at Gibson Arena at 4 P.M.
