ST. LOUIS, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team scored 15 unanswered points early in the fourth quarter and outscored visiting Maryville, 31-11, to end the game en route to a 74-61 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory on Saturday afternoon.
The Tritons also overcame a 10-point deficit in the win to improve to 4-5 overall, including 1-2 in the GLVC, while Maryville slips to 5-3 and 1-2 in league play.
The Saints scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a 50-43 lead at 9:03, but from there, it was all UMSL. The Tritons used back-to-back three-pointers from junior
Shea O'Brien and senior
Kelly Kunkel to pull within one, while a layup by sophomore
Jordan Fletcher gave UMSL a 51-50 lead it would not relinquish at the 6:41 mark. Meanwhile, the Saints wouldn't score again until a pair of free throws with 2:33 to play and didn't net another field goal until 57 seconds remained.
Junior
Robneisha Lee led the Tritons with 14 points, going 8-of-11 at the free throw line. The Tritons made 22-of-29 free throws, including all 10 in the final 1:05.
Junior
Sydney Bloch followed with 13 points, four assists and three steals, while senior
Amber Daly came off the bench to contribute 12 points, seven assists and three steals in her first contest since the season opener.
UMSL shot 38.7 percent from the field and owned a 49-40 rebounding advantage with freshman
Sydney Skaggs pulling down nine rebounds. The Saints shot 28.3 percent, including just 21.8 percent in the second half.
Maryville outscored UMSL, 19-5, over the final seven minutes and 17 seconds of the second quarter to take a 35-25 lead into halftime. The Tritons, which held an 18-15 lead at the end of the quarter, took a 20-17 lead at the 7:54 mark on a lay-in by junior
Simone Gillum, but finished the half 1-of-11 from the field. UMSL shot 50 percent from the floor in the first 10 minutes, but was just 2-of-15 (13.3 percent) in the final 10 minutes of the opening stanza.
UMSL scored eight straight to open the second half and knotted the score at 39-39 on a Daly three-pointer. The Saints, which didn't net a field goal in the quarter until the 3:03 mark, clung to a 46-43 lead after three quarters played.
UMSL is idle until next Saturday when they travel to Missouri Valley of the NAIA in non-conference play.
