Box Score

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. – Senior Devonna Smith tallied her first double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team suffered a 73-68 loss at Lincoln Monday night.
 
The Blue Tigers connected on 3-of-4 free throw attempts in the final 10 seconds to secure the win after a jumper by Smith in the paint with 19 seconds to play pulled the Tritons with 70-68.
 
UMSL, playing in its first game in 12 days, slips to 3-3 on the season, while Lincoln improves to 6-4.
 
Senior Angela Johnson followed with a career-best 18 points, while sophomore Kelly McGovern added a season-best 16 points and six assists.
 
The game featured 14 ties and 14 lead changes and Lincoln used six straight points late in the game to turn a 57-57 tie into a 63-57 lead it would not relinquish with 4:15 to play. The Tritons pulled within 63-61 a minute later with buckets by Smith and McGovern before the Blue Tigers took their largest lead of the game at 69-62 with 1:39 to play on a pair of Jackeya Mitchell free throws. Junior Hazaria Washington and Smith later each hit one of two free throws to trim the deficit to three at 69-66 with just under a minute to play.
 
UMSL shot 41.3 percent from the field, while Lincoln shot 38.9 percent, but connected at a 63.6 percent (7-of-11) clip from three-point range. The Blue Tigers held a 39-37 rebounding edge.
 
The Tritons took a 37-36 lead into halftime. UMSL owned the first half's largest lead of five points at 19-14 with 9:15 to play following back-to-back scores on a Washington three-pointer and a Johnson layup.
 
UMSL returns to action on Wednesday, hosting Culver-Stockton at 1 p.m.
 
TRITON TIDBITS: The game marked the return to Lincoln for UMSL first-year head coach Katie Vaughn, who spent the three previous seasons directing the Blue Tigers… UMSL falls to 29-18 all-time against Lincoln… the Tritons had a season-low six steals, marking the first time UMSL did not finish with double digits in that category.