SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Missouri S&T women's basketball team concluded its three-game road trip with a 77-65 victory over Illinois Springfield Monday afternoon on Martin Luther King Day in the The Recreation and Athletics Center.
The Miners (10-7, 6-3 GLVC) took a one-point advantage after the first quarter, but after being tied at 34 at the half, outscored UIS 43-31 in the second half to pick up its sixth conference win of the season.
From the tip, UIS (1-16, 1-8 GLVC) came out with full court pressure where the Miners turned the ball over twice, allowing UIS begin this decision by scoring the first eight points. However, at the 7:44 mark,
Anna Finley (Owensville, MO/Owensville) broke the run on a three-point jump shot, which started a 14-0 run that was eventually snapped at the 4:03 marker on a three-pointer by Liz Uhl.
S&T closed the quarter with the lead, then started the second period with the first four points after back-to-back layups from
Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) to increase the lead back to five. S&T would eventually take as much as a six-point lead in the period, but UIS finished the first half by scoring eight of the final 10 points to tie the game at 34 heading into the intermission.
Coming out of the break, the Miners and Prairie Stars exchanged baskets until the 5:44 mark when
Alex Kerr (St. Louis, MO/St. Joseph's Academy) started a 12-2 run on a layup, as she scored six of her 16 points in that span. UIS cut that lead to eight by the end of the period, then opened the fourth quarter by trimming the margin down to three following a lay-in by Brianna Zajicek.
However, the Miners answered with an 8-0 run that began with a driving layup by Rodriguez driving layup that gave S&T its first double figure lead of the afternoon. S&T was able to keep the Prairie Stars at bay as it made seven of its final eight free throw attempts to close out the victory.
Rodriguez led three Miners in double figures with 22 points as she finished eight-of-14 from the field. Kerr contributed 16 points while hauling down a team-high eight rebounds and
Michaela Davis (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk) added 14 points while knocking down eight-of-12 attempts from the free-throw line. As a team, S&T scored 13 points on second chance opportunities, outrebounded UIS 32-24 and held the lead for nearly 35 minutes.
The Miners also shot a season-best 52.1 percent from the field on the afternoon.
The Prairie Stars had all five of their starters in double figures, led by Uhl with 16 points was she made four of her seven three-point attempts. However, the rest of the Prairie Stars made just one of their other 21 shots from beyond the arc and went 11-of-34 from the field in the second half, finishing at 39.3 percent for the game.
Missouri S&T returns to Gibson Arena Thursday evening to host Truman State at 5:30 p.m.
