ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T Women's Basketball had a historic Thursday night in a 66-64 victory over Upper Iowa.
The Miners led the Peacocks after the first quarter 10-8.
Katelynne Roberts (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) had four points in the quarter to lead all shooters as both teams were slow from the field to start the game.
In the second quarter, Upper Iowa answered as they put up 21 points to 15 for S&T. The Miners took a 16-14 lead with 7:20 left thanks to a
Morgan Luebbering (St. Thomas, MO/Fatima) layup. After Upper Iowa took a 20-19 lead, S&T responded with two jumpers made to take a 23-22 lead. The Peacocks took a three-point lead, but Roberts trimmed it down to 25-26 with a layup. With one second left in the half, Amelia Valentino made a three-pointer to extend their lead to 29-25.
Upper Iowa had their best quarter of the evening as they outscored S&T 26-14 in the third. A 7-0 run at the beginning of the quarter lifted Upper Iowa to a nine-point lead with 7:40 left. S&T was within five points, but an Upper Iowa responded with five straight points. The Peacocks ended the quarter with another 7-0 run as they went up by 18 points with 1:08 left in the third. To end the quarter, S&T was down 39-55.
Missouri S&T had a historic fourth quarter as they outscored the Peacocks 27-9 to win the game 66-64. They started out the quarter on an 8-0 run until Upper Iowa responded with five consecutive points. An S&T 14-0 run guided them to go down by one point. After the Peacocks made a field goal,
Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) tied up the game with a three-pointer with 1:11 left. Roberts gave S&T a 64-62 lead with a layup until Helen Staley tied the game with 12 seconds left. With two seconds on the clock, Roberts drove in the paint to make a layup as the Miners came all the way back from down 18 points to defeat Upper Iowa. They ended the game on a 21-5 run.
Gum led Missouri S&T with 15 points and 7-for-13 shooting. She also picked up five rebounds. Roberts, the hero for S&T, recorded 12 points and five rebounds.
Franchesca Metz (Downers Grove, IL/Nazareth Academy) tallied 10 points, while
Addyson Kent (North Vernon, IN/Jennings County) and Luebbering both had eight.
Anna Finley (Owensville, MO/Owensville) collected seven points and
Bonnie Lew Ludlow (Indianapolis, IN/Covenant Christian) had six. Finley also collected four assists and three steals.
As a team, the Miners had 40 points in the paint with 18 points off turnovers. In the fourth quarter, S&T shot 64.7% with three made three-pointers. The Miners forced 20 Peacock turnovers to only six for S&T. In a game where the Miners were down by 18 points, there were four ties and eight lead changes.
What's Next
The Miners will get one day off until they welcome Quincy on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. That will end their first leg of conference play until they play Harris-Stowe on Dec. 19 and Eureka on Dec. 21. That will end their eight-game homestand.
