BOLIVAR, Mo. – Missouri S&T was unable to hold off Southwest Baptist in the fourth quarter Thursday night, as the Bearcats outscored the Miners 27-14 over the final 10 minutes to pull out an 81-74 Great Lakes Valley Conference win at the Meyer Sports Center.
The Miners led for much of the contest, spotting SBU the first four points before rattling off nine straight to take the lead. S&T went in front on a three-point play by
Franchesca Metz (Downers Grove, IL/Nazareth Academy) during that run, then after the Bearcats took a 16-14 lead on a Kori Cromer three-point basket, tied it back up before the period ended on two free throws by
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville).
S&T (3-13, 0-8 GLVC) made just four of its 17 field goal attempts in the first quarter, but lit up the gym in the next 10 minutes as it hit 10-of-14 from the field and six-of-eight from three-point range. The Miners were down 23-20 when
Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) drained a three-pointer to tie the score at the 6:08 mark, then grabbed the lead on a Roberts basket on their next trip down the floor.
Roberts scored her 15
th point of the half on that basket, then
Addyson Kent (North Vernon, IN/Jennings County) took over during the final 3:46 of the period as she knocked down five three-pointers in that span, the last of which gave the Miners a 42-32 lead in the final minute of the first half.
S&T led by eight at the intermission, then scored the first six points of the second half to take its largest lead of the night of 14 with 8:41 to play in the third period. SBU (8-6, 4-4 GLVC) started chipping away at the margin and got it down to five before a basket by
Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) and three-point play by Puett restored the 10-point margin. However, the Bearcats got it down to six by the end of the period even though the Miners were seven-of-12 in the quarter, then got hot in the fourth quarter to eventually erase the lead.
SBU, who went nine-of-15 in the final period, took the lead on a three-pointer by Karlee Holland with 5:45 to go to cap a 9-0 run, then the teams went back and forth for the next two minutes. The Miners took the lead at 71-70 on a three-pointer by Metz with 4:15 left and tied it at 73 on a
Bonnie Lew Ludlow (Indianapolis, IN/Covenant Christian) jumper just over two minutes later, but SBU went up for good on a Tori Hamilton lay-in with 1:54 on the clock.
Roberts finished with 24 points to lead the Miners and Kent had a season-high 16; Metz was the third Miner in double figures with 11 points. S&T shot 41.9 percent in the game, but was 17-of-26 over the span of the second and third quarters.
Hamilton led three Bearcats in double figures with 12 points.
Missouri S&T will return to action Sunday when it faces Drury in a 3 p.m. contest in Springfield, Mo.
