ST. LOUIS, MO., January 15, 2015 – Senior
Kelly McGovern filled the stat line with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals to help the University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team to a 70-56 victory over Truman State on Thursday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference action.
The Tritons improve to 7-6 overall, including 3-2 in the GLVC with the win, while also improving to 5-0 in the Mark Twain Building this season. Truman State slips to 9-5 and 3-3 in the league.
UMSL owned a pair of 17-point leads in the contest, but had to fend off the Bulldogs, who pulled back within single digits each time.
The Tritons jumped out to an early 9-2 lead and built it to 17-9 before scoring nine unanswered to make it 26-9 at the 10:53 mark for its largest lead of the half. Truman State then scored eight of the next 12 points and pulled with 30-17 on a traditional three-point play. Junior
Kelly Kunkel followed with a three-pointer from the top of the arch to extend her team's lead to 32-17 at the 8:25 mark, but UMSL would not net another field goal the remainder of the half as Truman State closed the stanza with a 10-4 run to pull within 36-27 at the break. The Tritons missed seven field goal attempts and turned the ball over four times during that stretch.
The Bulldogs netted their first two field goals to open the second half to pull within 39-32 before the Tritons used a 7-1 run to take a 46-33 lead on a McGovern layup at the 15:17 mark. Senior
Tierra Snow later scored four straight for UMSL to make it a 17-point advantage with 7:45 to play at 56-39. A 12-2 run by Truman State put the Bulldogs back in the contest at 58-51 with just under four minutes to go, but UMSL went 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 2:22 to seal the victory.
Kunkel added 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Snow finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, playing 30 minutes off the bench. Senior
Alexis Lawrence chipped in 11 points, all coming in the first eight minutes of the contest.
The Tritons shot 47.1 percent from the field and owned a 35-27 rebounding advantage, while Truman State shot 37.7 percent.
UMSL is back on the court Saturday in a road contest at Quincy with a tip time of 1 p.m.
