ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team fell to seventh ranked Drury 72-55 on Thursday evening at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons drop to 2-4, 1-1 GLVC while the Panthers move to 6-1, 2-0 GLVC.
UMSL jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the contest and were still ahead 10-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Triton defense held Drury to 24 percent (4-for-17) shooting from the floor including 0-of-4 from three while their offense shot 56 percent from the field.
Morgan Ramthun had four points in the stanza while
Shae Dillavou,
Jalysa Stokes and
Parker Stafford had two points apiece.
UMSL stretched its lead back to five after a three-pointer from
Tori Standefer with 6:32 left in the second quarter. But that would be its last lead as the Panthers went on a 16-0 run over the next 4:13 and held the Tritons without a basket until Stokes scored on a layup with 0:31 left in the half to take a 26-17 lead into the half.
UMSL scored the first four points of the third quarter to cut Drury's lead to five after a jumper from
Kiara Stewart and a layup from Ramthun 1:24 into the frame. The Panthers ran off eight in a row to extend its lead back to double figures at 34-21 with 6:49 to play in the frame.
The Tritons got it back to within nine after a layup from Ramthun but wouldn't get any closer as Drury closed the quarter on a 17-11 run to take a 51-36 lead into the final 10 minutes.
The Panther lead grew to as many as 21 with 3:03 remaining after a three-pointer from Kaylee DaMitz-Holt. UMSL scored 10 of the final 16 points of the game for the final margin.
The Tritons shot 53 percent (19-for-36) from the floor in the contest including 3-of-8 from three and shot 74 percent at the foul line. Ramthun led UMSL in scoring with a career-high 14 points while Stewart added 10 and Stokes finished with nine. Stewart and Dillavou had five rebounds apiece in the contest.
After its cold start, Drury's offense heated up over the final three quarters as it made 24-of-46 field goals to finish the game shooting 44 percent from the floor. It made six of 20 three-point attempts and shot 83 percent at the foul line. Alana Findley led all scorers with 15 points while Reese Schaaf added 12 and Terrion Moore finished with 10. Findley also had a game-high nine rebounds.
The Tritons continue their three-game homestand on Saturday hosting Missouri S&T at 1 p.m.
