ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team held off a fourth quarter rally to defeat Kentucky Wesleyan 60-52 on Monday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons improve to 1-3 while the Panthers drop to 2-2.
The first quarter went back-and-forth as there were seven lead changes in the first 10 minutes of action. UMSL led 9-8 after an old fashioned three-point play from
Jalysa Stokes but KWC got back-to-back threes from Jordyn Barga and Cali Nolot to take a 14-9 lead with 3:03 remaining in the stanza.
The Tritons scored the final nine points of the quarter with five coming from
Mallory Ronshausen while
Shae Dillavou added the other four to take an 18-14 lead at the quarter break.
UMSL scored the first five points of the second quarter to extend its lead to nine on a layup by
Morgan Ramthun and a three-pointer from Ronshausen 1:15 into the frame.
The Panthers went on a 12-6 run over the next 4:13 to cut the Triton lead to 29-26 after a three-pointer from Barga but UMSL scored four of the final seven points of the quarter to take a 33-29 lead into halftime.
Kentucky Wesleyan scored the first points of the second half to close within two but the Tritons countered with a 19-4 run to build its largest lead of the game at 52-35. Stokes scored 10 points during that run including a pair of threes.
The Panthers scored four of the first five points to begin the final period but Stokes hit a big three from the right wing as the shot clock expired to extend the lead back to 15. Kentucky Wesleyan went on an 11-1 run to cut UMSL's lead to five with 0:30 remaining. The Tritons closed out the game at the foul line with Ramthun hitting three free throws in that span.
UMSL shot a season-high 49 percent (24-for-49) from the floor including 6-of-11 from three but shot just 60 percent at the foul line. Stokes led all scorers with 19 points while Dillavou added nine and Ronshausen and
Kiara Stewart had eight points each. Stewart also had a game-high nine rebounds.
The Panthers were held to a season-low 52 points on 36 percent shooting (21-for-59) including 6-of-28 from beyond the arc and shot just 50 percent at the foul line. Nolot led KWC with 15 points while Corina Conley dropped in 13. Barga had a team-high six rebounds.
The Tritons return to action next Monday (Nov. 28) as they travel to Bolivar, Mo., to take on Southwest Baptist in their GLVC opener at 5:30 p.m.
