BAYAMON, P.R. – A second half rally effort fell short for Missouri S&T's women's basketball team Sunday as it dropped the second game of its trip to Puerto Rico with a 73-68 setback at the hands of Puerto Rico-Bayamon.
After scoring the initial basket of the contest, the Miners struggled offensively for much of the first quarter, going just three-of-17 from the floor and committing seven turnovers. Meanwhile, the Cowgirls connected on nine of their 15 shot attempts over the first 10 minutes and outscored S&T 10-2 over the final 6:29 of the quarter to take a 19-11 lead.
Bayamon's lead grew to 14 after it scored the first six points of the second quarter and remained in double figures for a good portion of the period. The Miners (2-10) cut the lead to eight after a three-point play by
Chorus Davis (Kansas City, MO/Lincoln College Prep) at the 2:56 mark, but again the Cowgirls finished the quarter with a flurry, outscoring the Miners 11-3 to go up 47-31 at the intermission.
The Cowgirls shot 63.6 percent in the first half and scored 19 points off of the Miners' 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play, while S&T's field goal percentage for the half was 28.1 percent after hitting 40 percent in the second period.
After the lead reached 23 early in the second half, the Miners started cutting into it and thanks to a 9-2 run to close the third quarter, the Miners found themselves down by 12 with 10 minutes remaining.
Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) scored the first six points in that surge, then a three-pointer by
Bonnie Lew Ludlow (Indianapolis, IN/Covenant Christian) cut the Bayamon lead to 62-50. Then on the first possession of the fourth quarter,
Addyson Kent (North Vernon, IN/Jennings County) drained a three-pointer to get the lead into single digits again.
Bayamon was able to extend its lead back to 15 over the next two-plus minutes, but then went cold from the field to open the door for the Miners. A three-pointer by
Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge), followed by a basket after a turnover by Ludlow cut the lead to nine, but S&T's itself hit a scoring drought as well as it didn't score for another three minutes when Gum scored to trim the lead to 71-64.
The Miners got the lead down to five after
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) made two free throws with 1:43 to play, but then missed two chances to get even closer before Bayamon's Alanis Ventura hit two free throws with 31 seconds remaining.
Roberts and Ludlow had 16 points apiece to lead S&T, while Puett also finished in double figures with 13 points. The Miners held Bayamon – led by Franchesca Torres with 17 points – to 31.8 percent from the field in the second half, but shot only 27.9 percent for the afternoon. S&T did have a 42-25 advantage on the boards, but were guilty of 20 turnovers in the game.
Missouri S&T will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 30 when it hosts Cottey College at Gibson Arena at 1 p.m.
