ROLLA, Mo. – Coming off a convincing win Thursday, the Missouri S&T women's basketball team was back at Gibson arena Saturday for the second matchup of the season against 23rd-ranked Missouri-St. Louis. Looking to atone for a loss last month in St. Louis, the Miners (8-13, 5-10) started out strong and lead for the most of the first half, but the Tritons (19-2, 15-1) showed why they are a Top-25 team as they came back to tie the game, take the lead and go on to win by a final score of 65-48.
UMSL won the tip but turned the ball over on their first possession as team leader in steals
Marta Durk (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township) picked the pocked of Faye Meissner. Both sides traded missed shots before
Kristen Keys (St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian Academy) broke the seal with a jumper to get S&T on the board first. The Tritons hit a three on their next possession, but Keys answered with a triple of her own to regain the advantage. UMSL tied things at 5-5 following two free throws but a 9-0 Miner run swung things back in favor of the Green & Gold behind baskets from Keys,
Jada Lindesmith (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lutheran),
Alex Kerr (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) and
Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones). Missouri-St. Louis managed to stop the run and close to back within two, but the Miners scored the final three points of the period to lead 17-12.
Back-to-back buckets by Kerr opened the second quarter and made it a nine-point edge for the Miners. An UMSL jumper in the lane at 7:57 was answered by a
Marta Durk (O'Fallon, Ill./O'Fallon Township) three-pointer to give S&T their largest lead of the game at 24-14. Fortunes then changed for both sides, as the Tritons started to get going and Missouri S&T struggled to find the bottom of the basket, as the visitors closed the first half on an 18-0 run to lead 32-24 going to the intermission.
As the third period started, UMSL was able to push their lead to double-figures and was able to keep it that way for most of the action. A three-point play from Rodriguez cut the deficit to seven at 37-30 with 6:46 to play. The Tritons scored the next four points to make it an 11-point game before the next three points came from S&T to get back within eight but that would be as close the Miners would get for the remainder of the day, as the quarter closed with a score of 48-35.
The fourth quarter opened with the teams combining for three-straight made baskets as play resumed as the sequence closed out with UMSL leading by 16. Kerr and Rodriguez hit a pair of shots for S&T to make it 53-41 but the Tritons managed to maintain the lead as time ticked off the clock and led by as much as 18 in the final minutes before
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) went 1-2 at the stripe to make it 65-48.
Keys led the Miners with 10 points on 4-9 shooting while Rodriguez and Kerr each finished with nine points, with the former also recording eight rebounds and four steals. For the game, seven different players scored for S&T.
Up next the Miners kick off a busy week with their final road trip of the season, starting with a make-up game Monday evening at 5 P.M. against Lindenwood in St. Charles.
