LEBANON, Ill. - The S&T women's basketball team continued Great Lakes Valley Conference play with a 65-57 victory over McKendree Thursday evening as the Miners took a 17-11 lead after the first quarter and maintained it for the better part of the contest to pick up their 10th GLVC win of the season.
In the early stages of this decision, the Miners (14-11, 10-7 GLVC) and Bearcats (10-14, 7-10 GLVC) exchanged baskets until
Alex Kerr (St. Louis, MO/St. Joseph's Academy) broke the tie to start a 8-0 run that gave S&T a 17-9 advantage. After an Erin Golden basket trimmed the lead to six before the period ended, the Miners regained their eight-point lead on a Kerr jumper on their first possession of the second period.
However, McKendree's Clare Breden started an 7-0 run with a jumper before
Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) halted the run on a driving layup to increase the S&T lead at 21-18. The Bearcats got a basket from Madyson Harper to give the Bearcats a one-point lead at 24-23, which ended up being their last lead of the night as
Chorus Davis (Kansas City, MO/Lincoln College Prep) drained a wide-open three-point shot that gave S&T a two-point lead. The game was tied three more times until Rodriguez hit a pull-up jumper outside the paint and
Michaela Davis (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk) added a lay-in with 15 seconds remaining to give the Miners a 34-30 lead at the intermission.
Coming out of the break, McKendree started the second half on a 4-0 run to tie the game again, but
Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) broke that tie with a conventional three-point play which ended up putting S&T in front for good at 37-34. McKendree got to within a point twice in the third period, the last at 43-42 on a basket by Golden, but with three seconds remaining in the quarter, Davis got fouled on a driving layup and made both free throw attempts to give the Miners a three-point advantage into the final quarter.
S&T scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter on a Davis jumper and a Kerr lay-in to increase the lead to seven at 49-42 before the Bearcats trimmed the margin to four on two occasions. With the score at 52-48, Rodriguez drained a three-point basket that increased the lead back to seven before McDaniel scored three straight points for the Bearcats that cut the lead to 55-51.
Golden cut the lead down to three at 56-53 after she made a pair of free throw with just over two minutes remaining. However, with 1:40 remaining, Rodriguez was sent to the charity stripe for the bonus and netted both attempts that increased the lead to five and the Miners would finish off the victory at the free throw line, going nine-of-14 in the fourth quarter.
The Miners had three players finish in double figures led by Rodriguez with 22 points, which included career-high nine rebounds and her 1,500th career point, making her the third Miner in history to surpass that plateau.
Kerr added her 13th double-double of the season with 13 points while securing a team-high 10 rebounds and Davis ended this decision with 10 points.
As a team, S&T shot 46.3 percent from the field while holding the Bearcats to 35.3 percent shooting from the field; the Bearcats were also just one-of-12 from three-point range in the contest. McKendree held the lead for only 1:26 in the contest.
The Bearcats were led in scoring by Golden with 22 points, while McDaniel had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Miners will travel to Maryville Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. game that will be its final road contest of the regular season.
