ST. LOUIS, MO., January 2, 2015 – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team recorded a season-high 18 steals en route to a 54-34 win over Illinois Springfield on Friday night in Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams.
The Tritons also limited the Prairie Stars to 27.3 percent shooting, including just 10 percent in the opening 20 minutes, and outscored their guests, 22-6, in points off turnovers.
UMSL snaps a three-game losing skid with the loss, improving to 5-4 overall, including 1-0 in the GLVC. UIS slips to 4-5 and 0-1 in the league.
Junior
Kelly Kunkel led the Tritons with 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals, while redshirt freshman
Jordan Fletcher scored a game-high 14 points and also recorded eight rebound and two blocked shots. Junior
Amber Daly added 13 points, three assists and four steals, while senior
Kelly McGovern picked up five steals and tallied eight rebounds. Senior
Alexis Lawrence dished out six assists and collected four steals despite a season-low two points.
The Tritons shot 36.2 percent and owned a 39-38 rebounding advantage.
UMSL jumped out to an 11-3 lead and took a 25-6 advantage into halftime as the Prairie Stars went the final 12:45 without scoring. The Tritons defense forced 14 first half turnovers, collecting 12 steals and scored 17 of their points on UIS miscues. Offensively, UMSL started 9-of-18 from, but made just one of its last 11 attempts in the final eight minutes.
The Tritons took their largest lead of the contest at the 10:59 mark at 43-16 on Kunkel's three-pointer before fending off a UIS rally as the Prairie Stars used a 16-2 run to pull within 45-32 with under five minutes to play. However, UIS would get no closer.
UMSL returns to action on Sunday, hosting McKendree at 1 p.m.
TRITON TIDBITS: UMSL improves to 3-15 all-time in GLVC openers, winning its second straight… the Tritons improve to 3-0 in the Mark Twain Building, playing at home for the first time since November 22… UMSL is 7-1 all-time against Illinois-Springfield.
