OWENSBORO, KY. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team rallied back from a 12-point deficit, but couldn't complete the comeback as the Tritons suffered a 74-68 loss at Kentucky Weselyan on Wednesday afternoon.
UMSL, playing its final game of a three-game road swing, falls to 2-3 overall, while Kentucky Wesleyan improves to 2-3 with the victory in its home opener.
Both teams shot 48.2 percent, but the Tritons committed 22 turnovers, while the Panthers owned a 34-28 rebounding advantage, including a13-9 edge on the offensive end, and went to the free throw line 24 times to UMSL's eight trips.
Junior
Shea O'Brien scored 16 points, knocking in four three-pointers, and pulled down a team-best six rebounds, while senior
Kelly Kunkel added 15 points, a career-high eight assists and three steals. Junior
Robneisha Lee also got into double figures with 14 points.
Kentucky Wesleyan took its largest lead of the game at 55-43, 45 seconds into the final quarter. The Tritons then used a 15-3 run over the next 4:15, knotting the score at 58-58 on a lay-in by freshman
Sydney Skaggs. A three-pointer by O'Brien gave UMSL the 61-60 lead moments later, but after a pair of Lee free throws with three minutes to play that tied it at 65-65, the Panthers took advantage of a couple missed shots and a turnover by the Tritons to take a 69-65 lead they would not relinquish.
The Tritons owned a 22-16 lead at the end of the first quarter, going 10-of-12 from the field, but scored just seven points in the second quarter and fell behind 34-29 at the break as the Panthers ended the opening half of play with 12 unanswered points. Junior
Simone Gillum delivered a three-pointer at the 6:47 mark for a 29-22 lead, but UMSL would miss its final eight field goal attempts, while turning the ball over five times.
Gillum recorded nine points, four rebounds and four blocked shots in 35 minutes off the bench.
Kentucky Wesleyan went up 41-32 2:32 into the third quarter before Kunkel scored seven straight, pulling her team within 42-41 with just over three minutes on the clock. Kunkel then hit her ninth straight point at the 1:03 mark to make it a 46-43 deficit, but a three-pointer by the Panthers and a lay-in off a steal gave the host a 51-43 advantage after three quarters played.
The Tritons return to action on Saturday, hosting Findlay at 1 p.m.
