CHARLESTON, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team hung tough in its 65-54 loss at Eastern Illinois in an exhibition contest on Monday evening at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill.

The Tritons scored the first five points of the contest but the Panthers (1-0) responded with a 10-2 run to take a 10-7 lead after Miah Monahan hit one of two free throws with 5:09 remaining in the first quarter. Olivia Mezan tied the game with a three-pointer nearly a minute later.

Eastern Illinois retook the lead after Macy McGlone hit a pair of three throws but UMSL came right back as Shania Liburd hit a pull-up jumper to even things at 12. The Panthers took their final lead of the stanza as McGlone hit one of two at the foul line on the next possession. The Tritons scored the final five points of the quarter on a three-pointer from Amaya Blake and then Kiara Stewart hit a jumper as the buzzer sounded to give UMSL a 17-13 lead after one quarter of play.

The Tritons opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run to take its largest lead of the contest at 26-15 with 4:39 remaining in the half. Stewart scored seven points during that run while Mallory Ronshausen chipped in with two points.

The Panthers got its offense going over the final four-plus minutes of the quarter outscoring UMSL 10-2 to cut the Triton lead to 28-25 at halftime.

The Tritons were led in scoring by Stewart with 11 points in the first 20 minutes while Blake added five points off the bench and Mezan and Jalysa Stokes had three points apiece. UMSL shot 37.5 percent (12-for-32) from the floor in the first half including 3-of-9 from three but made only one of its three free throw attempts. The Tritons outrebounded Eastern Illinois 20-17 in the half.

The Panthers began the third quarter on a 12-4 run to take a 37-32 lead after a basket from McGlone. UMSL got three straight points from Stewart to trim the EIU lead to 37-35 halfway through the quarter but the Panthers closed the quarter scoring nine of the final 14 points to take a 46-40 lead into the final stanza.

Eastern Illinois opened the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to build its largest lead of the game at 56-42 after Morgan Litwiller hit one of two at the foul line. The Tritons cut the lead to 10 with less than two minutes to play as Stokes hit a three from the top of the key but any hopes of a comeback were dashed as Haley Cameron answered with a three on the other end. UMSL's final points came in the closing seconds as Blake rebounded her own missed shot and scored on a layup with 0:01 remaining.

The Tritons finished the game shooting 38 percent (22-for-58) from the floor, were 6-of-18 from three and shot 57 percent (4-for-7) at the foul line. They were tied in rebounding with the Panthers at 36. Stewart led UMSL in scoring with 16 points while Stokes added 12 and Mezan finished with nine.

Eastern Illinois shot slightly better in the contest making 22-of-57 (38.6 percent) shots including 5-for-19 from three. The difference in the game was the Panthers had a 12-point advantage at the foul line making 16-of-22 attempts. Lariah Washington led all scorers with 22 points while McGlone and Monahan had 11 points apiece.

The Tritons host top ranked Grand Valley State in their home opener this Friday (Nov. 11) at 1 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building. UMSL will also be at home on Saturday hosting Davenport at 1 p.m.