EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – After falling behind in the third quarter, Missouri S&T's women's basketball team stormed back in the final period of Sunday's exhibition contest at Southern Illinois Edwardsville, outscoring the Cougars 23-13 to win 82-79 for its first win over an NCAA Division I opponent since 2004.
The Miners led 43-38 at halftime, but the Cougars – a former member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference – outscored S&T 28-16 in the third period to take a 66-59 lead into the fourth quarter and scored the initial basket of the final stanza to extend their lead to nine. But thanks to a 60 percent shooting performance over the final 10 minutes, the Miners used a 12-0 run to erase the deficit and were able to pull out the contest in the final minute.
Molly Sheehan hit a three-pointer with 57 seconds remaining to draw SIUE even at 79, then Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) was fouled after getting an offensive rebound and made the second of her two free throw attempts to put S&T back into the lead. On SIUE's ensuing possession, Michaela Davis (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk) stole the ball from Sheehan and was fouled; she converted both free throws with 19 seconds to go to give the Miners a three-point advantage.
SIUE elected to go for the tie when it came back down the floor, but Mikayla Kinnard missed a three-pointer from the top of the key and the ball went out of bounds to S&T with seven seconds to go. After a Miner timeout to advance the ball to the front court, Davis was fouled after four additional seconds went off the clock but missed both free throws to keep the door open for the Cougars, but a half-court heave by Kinnard went off the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded.
The Miners went toe-to-toe with the Cougars right out of the gate, taking as much as a six-point lead in an opening quarter that ended at 26 apiece by shooting 58.8 percent in the period. After falling behind 31-30 early in the second quarter, Rodriguez scored on a jumper in transition to spark an 11-0 run that gave S&T a double-digit lead.
Rodriguez scored the first nine points in the run, then Alex Kerr (St. Louis, MO/St. Joseph's Academy) scored on a lay-up at the 3:20 mark to put the Miners up 41-31. The lead would grow to 11 following a lay-in by Jada Lindesmith (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lutheran) before the Cougars closed the first half by scoring the final six points to cut the S&T lead to five.
SIUE shot just 40 percent from the field in the first half, but came out in the third quarter and used a period in which it shot 58.8 percent to take the lead. A basket by Rodriguez gave the Miners a 52-46 lead at the 7:10 mark, but SIUE rattled off seven straight points to take the lead back before a three-pointer by Anna Finley put S&T back in front. However, the Cougars regained the advantage on a Sheehan three-pointer just 12 seconds later to a 9-0 run to go up by seven.
After Olivia Clayton extended the SIUE lead to nine early in the fourth quarter, the Miners worked their way back into the game as they scored 12 unanswered points to get back in front. S&T regained the lead at 69-68 on a short jumper by Davis at the 6:32 mark, then Kristen Keys (St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian Academy) hit a jumper in the lane to make it a three-point game again.
The Cougars tied the game at 71 before S&T took the lead back on another basket by Keys; that was followed by a fast-break lay-up by Davis and two free throws by the senior guard to push the lead back to six again with 3:27 remaining. SIUE came back to tie it before the Miners hit the free throws in the final minute and got the defensive stops to wrap up the victory.
Rodriguez led four Miners in double figures with 22 points, while Keys added 16, Davis 15 and Kerr 12 as she also finished with a double-double by pulling down 13 rebounds. The Miners shot better than 50 percent in three of the four quarters of action and finished the afternoon at 55.2 percent from the floor. SIUE was led by Kinnard with 15 points.
S&T's last win over a Division I opponent came prior to the 2004-05 season when it picked up a win at Saint Louis University. The Miners, after splitting their two Division I exhibition games, will open the regular season Friday against Wisconsin-Parkside at 2 p.m., in Kenosha, Wis.
