ROLLA, Mo. – After a sluggish first half of shooting, Missouri S&T's women's basketball team warmed up in the third quarter and erased all of a 13-point deficit, but couldn't sustain the momentum in the fourth quarter as Quincy handed the Miners a 64-57 Great Lakes Valley Conference loss Thursday night at Gibson Arena.
Trailing 40-27 midway through the third quarter, the Miners (1-6, 0-3 GLVC) outscored the Hawks (2-5, 2-1 GLVC) 15-2 to wipe out the 13-point lead. However, Quincy got a basket from Janiece Dawson in the final seconds of the quarter to go back in front and never trailed again in the contest.
S&T shot just 26.7 percent in the first half and trailed 30-21 at the intermission, then saw the deficit grow before making its run in the third quarter. It began with a conventional three-point play by
Franchesca Metz (Downers Grove, IL/Nazareth Academy), then a basket by
Chorus Davis (Kansas City, MO/Lincoln College Prep) cut the lead to eight.
Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) answered a basket by Mikayla Huffine to make it an eight-point game again with 3:27 left in the period, then added a free throw before a lay-in by
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville), a three-pointer by
Addyson Kent (North Vernon, IN/Jennings County) and another basket by Gum in the final minute of the quarter after a Roberts steal closed out the 10-0 that tied the game.
The Miners were within one after a three-point play by Roberts a minute into the fourth quarter, but S&T went into another scoring drought as it scored only four points over the next five-plus minutes to allow the Hawks to push the lead back into double figures again. S&T got as close as six on two occasions late in in the contest.
Despite holding the Hawks to a 39.4 percent mark from the field, the Miners made only 37.7 percent of their own attempts and went three-of-21 from three-point range.
Roberts led three Miners in double figures with 17 points, while Gum added 13 and
Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) finished with 10. S&T had five fewer turnovers than Quincy, but was outrebounded by a 51-33 margin on the night.
Quincy was led by Cymirah Williams with 13 points.
Missouri S&T will host Illinois Springfield Saturday at 1 p.m. at Gibson Arena.
