ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's women's basketball team took control of matters in the middle 20 minutes of Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference game with William Jewell at Gibson Arena, then held off the Cardinals' late rally effort to come away with a 79-67 victory.
After entering the second quarter with a one-point lead, the Miners outscored Jewell 18-11 in the second quarter and 21-14 in the third and withstood the Cardinals' rally that saw them get the margin down to five with under two minutes remaining before pulling away for their second straight victory.
S&T had its best shooting day of the season Saturday, connecting on 54.5 percent of its first goal attempts and it started right from the outset as it scored on it first three trips down the floor and hit five of its first seven shots. The game was, however, tied at 15 until
Addyson Kent (North Vernon, IN/Jennings County) drained a three-pointer to put S&T back into the lead. Jewell would go in front in the final minute of the period before S&T regained the advantage on a lay-in by
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) in the final seconds.
The Miners (5-14, 2-9 GLVC) made 10 of their 14 field goal attempts in the first quarter, then opened the second quarter on an 10-0 run that was capped by a lay-up by
Morgan Luebbering (Jefferson Ciy, MO/Fatima) to go up by 11. Jewell (4-13, 2-9 GLVC) cut that lead down to five, but the Miners went back to Roberts for a basket to stem that surge, then had the lead back to 11 again before a three-pointer by Jewell's Caitlin Behling made it an eight-point game at the intermission.
After the Cardinals scored the first basket of the second half, the Miners put together their second double-digit scoring run of the day, scoring 10 straight and taking a 50-34 lead following a conventional three-point play by
Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge) at the 5:57 mark. S&T got another three-point play right at the end of the third quarter, as
Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) drove to the basket in the closing seconds and got the basket and free throw that put the S&T lead at 15 heading into the final period.
Jewell cut the Miner lead to eight in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, then had the lead down to five with 1:41 to go following a Kate Hillyer basket. However, two free throws apiece by
Chorus Davis (Kansas City, MO/Lincoln College Prep) and
Franchesca Metz (Downers Grove, IL/Nazareth Academy) put the margin back to nine, then S&T finished off the win over the final minute at the free throw line as it made five of its final six from the charity stripe.
Roberts led four Miners in double figures with 20 points as she went a perfect nine-of-nine from the field -- tying the S&T single game record for the most made field goals without a miss -- while
Bonnie Lew Ludlow (Indianapolis, IN/Covenant Christian) had her fourth game in double figures this season with 15. Davis finished with 11 and Puett with 10 to round out the double figure list for S&T.
The Miners also outrebounded Jewell by a 40-31 margin and held the Cardinals – led by Ayden Shannon's 24 points – to a 37.5 percent shooting mark on the day.
Missouri S&T will hit the road next week for a pair of games in the St. Louis area, beginning with a Thursday night contest at Missouri-St. Louis beginning at 5:30 p.m.
