ST. LOUIS, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team picked up a thrilling 80-75 overtime win over visiting Quincy on Thursday night in a key Great Lakes Valley Conference contest.
 
In a battle of two teams that entered the game in a four-way tie for second place in the GLVC West Division standings, the Tritons prevailed to improve to 13-11 overall, including 9-7 in the GLVC. UMSL now sits in a tie for second place with Truman State, a 78-72 winner at Maryville tonight. The Tritons travel to Kirksville on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
 
Junior Kelly Kunkel scored a game-high 25 points to lead the offense, while senior Alexis Lawrence netted 6-of-10 three-pointers en route to 21 points. Lawrence scored 13 of her points in the second half on four three-pointers. Junior Amber Daly followed with 18 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals.
 
The Tritons shot an even 47 percent from the floor and owned a 40-31 rebounding advantage, including a 16-9 edge on the offensive end. Quincy shot 44.8 percent, including 50 percent in the second half, but was 0-of-3 from the floor in the overtime frame. The game featured 12 ties and 10 lead changes.
 
Senior Tierra Snow pulled down 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end, while Kunkel and senior Kelly McGovern had seven each.
 
A three-point bucket by Lawrence with 3:08 to play in regulation gave UMSL a 68-65 lead and after a bucket by the Hawks, Lawrence hit the first of two free throws with 21 seconds on the clock for the 69-67 advantage, but Quincy's Maggie Cunningham netted a jumper in the paint to force the extra five minutes.
 
A jumper by Kunkel and two free throws from Daly turned a 73-71 deficit into a 75-73 lead with 2:13 remaining in OT. Cunningham connected on the first of two free throws with 1:39 on the clock and made it a 75-74 game, but Kunkel followed with another jumper and later hit a free throw to extend the lead to 78-74. The Tritons were 7-of-8 from the free throw line in overtime, while Quincy was 6-of-10 after netting 8-of-9 during regulation.
 
Quincy took a 35-30 lead into halftime. Both teams shot 44.8 percent from the field in the opening half, but the Hawks made two more three-pointers and outscored the Tritons, 10-4, in points off turnovers. Quincy was also 4-of-4 at the free throw line, while the Tritons were just 1-of-4.
 
UMSL opened the game with a 14-8 lead before Quincy scored eight unanswered to post a 16-14 lead. The Hawks also used a 6-0 run late in the first half, converting a traditional three-point play before taking advantage of an UMSL turnover with a three-pointer to turn a 25-24 deficit into a 30-25 lead with four minutes to play.
 
Quincy took its largest lead of the game at 51-41 with 13:30 to play, but the Tritons stormed back with 10 unanswered and knotted the score on Lawrence's fourth three-pointer of the game at the 11:13 mark.
 
TRITON TIDBITS: UMSL avenged an earlier season loss to the Hawks, 90-73, and trail in the all-time series, 21-31… UMSL improved to 8-2 at home… senior Alexis Lawrence moved into second place on the single season charts with 81 three-pointers... Lawrence has seven games of five or more three-pointers this season.