ST. LOUIS, MO. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team came up short in the opener of its own Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday, falling to Newman, 62-58.
The Tritons rallied from a 12-point second half deficit, pulling within two twice in the final two minutes, but couldn't complete the rally.
RECORDS
UMSL (2-3), Newman (3-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Newman clung to a 31-29 halftime lead after UMSL led 15-14 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams held leads of seven points in the first half. The Tritons raced out to a 10-3 lead, which included a string of 10 unanswered points, before Newman used a 16-3 run between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second quarter to take a 21-15 lead with 7:54 to go in the half.
Newman started the third quarter with a 14-4 scoring advantage to build a 45-33 lead midway through the frame. A three-pointer from junior
Danielle Berry got the Tritons within 48-43, but the Jets took a 53-44 at the end of the frame.
Back-to-back buckets from sophomore
Kiara Stewart got UMSL within 55-53 with 2:21 to play. The Jets got the lead back to six with just a under a minute to go before a three-pointer from sophomore
Faye Meissner made it another two-point game at 60-58.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Junior Alex LaPorta just missed a triple double, finishing with 11 points, a career-high 10 assists and nine rebounds.
- Freshman Breanna Diestelkamp came off the bench to tally a season-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
- Redshirt senior Laura Szorenyi also reached double figure scoring with 11 points, while Berry pulled down a team-high 11 boards to go with four assists and three steals.
- UMSL shot 40.8 percent and held a 37-21 rebounding advantage, while the Jets connected at a 43.8 percent clip.
- The Tritons committed 20 turnovers, which led to 26 points for Newman on the other end.
- Newman was 11-of-21 from three-point range, which included an 8-of-14 performance from Kaitlyn Poter, who finished with a game-high 30 points.
UP NEXT
UMSL hosts Lincoln tomorrow in the finale of its Thanksgiving Classic.
