ROMEOVILLE, IL -- Missouri S&T Women's Basketball fell to the Lewis Flyers on Saturday by a score of 74-67 despite a strong fourth quarter effort from the Miners that cut a 17-point deficit down to just 5.
Ava McCulla (St. Louis, MO/Parkway South) scored the opening points of Saturday's contest, making a pair of layups in the paint to give S&T a 4-0 lead. Lewis would hit a three two minutes later to take a 7-6 lead and start a four and a half minute sequence that included seven lead changes, with the Flyers eventually pulling ahead 18-16 to close the first quarter.
Early in the second, back-to-back layups by
Kiarra Kilgore (Galesburg, IL/Galesburg) helped the Miners tie the game at 20-20, eventually taking their first lead of the quarter with 4:17 left after
Savannah Campbell (Rolla, MO/Rolla) successfully converted an "and-1". The Flyers retook the lead and went ahead 31-27, looking to build their lead before halftime, but
Norah Gum (Waterloo, IL/Waterloo) put up 7 points in just over a minute and a half to keep the Miners close and send the game to halftime tied at 35-all.
Lewis came out of the halftime hot, scoring on five of their first six possessions of the half to score ten unanswered points. A layup by Campbell at 6:43 got the Miners offense back on track, with free throws by
Adrianne Tolen (West Lafayette, IN/West Lafayette) and Gum cutting the deficit to single a minute later.
An 11-2 run by the Flyers late in the third quarter would increase their lead to 17 points, but the Miners responded by scoring ten of the next twelve points to cut the deficit to single digits again. Kilgore led the Miners in scoring in the final quarter of the contest, putting up six points and leading a 7-0 that would cut the Flyers' lead to five before the clock ran out to end the game at 74-67.
The Miners had their highest shooting percentage of the season in the loss, going 53.3% from the field. They also outrebounded Lewis, grabbing 28 boards to the Flyers' 25. Gum led S&T in scoring for the third consecutive game, putting up 13 points and going a perfect 7-for-7 at the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Campbell led the Miners in rebounds with 6 and tied with Kilgore for the second-most points in the contest with 12.
What's Next
The Miners return home for games against Upper Iowa for Whiteout night and Quincy for Faculty & Staff Appreciation day next week.
Sign up for our email blast at https://minerathletics.com/subscribe.aspx
Follow Miners women's basketball on X and Instagram at @Miners_WBB
