KENOSHA, Wis. - The Missouri S&T women's basketball team nearly overcame a 22-point deficit in the second half Saturday afternoon, but finished the Nexus Classic with a 66-57 defeat at the hands of Walsh.
 
In the first quarter, the Miners scored the first basket of the game on a layup made by Michaela Davis (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk), which turned out to be the only time the Miners had the lead in the game. Anna Finley led all Miners with seven points and shot three-of-three from the field. Abby Hickey and Morgan McMillen of Walsh led the Cavaliers with five points. A fast break layup at the 0:11 mark by Finley helped decrease the Walsh lead 15-14 after the first ten minutes of action. 
 
The Cavaliers scored the first six points of the second period on a pair of three-point baskets and wound up outscoring S&T 22-8 in the quarter.  Walsh was 13-of-20 from the field in the quarter and took a 37-22 advantage to halftime.
 
In the third quarter, at the 7:25 mark, the Cavaliers took their biggest lead of 22 points on a layup by Morgan McMillen. However, the Miners began cutting into the margin, outscoring Walsh 14-2 to get the margin down to 10.  S&T would outscore the Cavaliers 19-13 in the quarter to cut the Walsh lead to nine heading into the final quarter.

Finley got the first basket of the fourth quarter to trim the lead to seven and the Miners continued to cut into the margin, eventually knocking it down to one at the 3:07 mark on a pull up jumper by Kristen Keys (St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian Academy).  But on Walsh's next possession, Hickey drained a three-pointer and the Miners could get no closer than for the remainder of the contest.
 
For the Miners, Finley led all S&T scorers with 16 points on three rebounds and three steals. Davis contributed 11 points and led the Miners in rebounds with eight and Keys added 10 points while pulling down five rebounds.   The Miners shot 36.7 percent from the field and got 21 points from their bench players in the contest.
 
McMillen led the Cavaliers with 21 points, while Hickey contributed 19 points and while shooting four-of-six from behind the arc.
 
The Miners return to action on Nov. 15 by hosting Baptist Bible at 5:30 p.m. to open the home schedule at Gibson Arena.
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