LEBANON, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team held off a late rally to defeat McKendree 60-55 and pick up its second straight win on Thursday evening at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Ill. The Tritons improve to 5-8, 3-4 GLVC while the Bearcats drop to 6-8, 3-4 GLVC.
UMSL led by as many as five in the opening quarter as
Jalysa Stokes scored nine points in the quarter on 4-of-6 shooting while
Amaya Blake and
Shania Liburd accounted for the other five. McKendree got a three from Madyson Harper near the end of the stanza to cut the Triton lead to two points after 10 minutes of play.
UMSL opened the second frame with four straight points to build its largest lead of the half at 18-12 after a layup from Stokes. The Bearcats closed to within 24-23 after a three-pointer from Christy Fortune late in the half but
Morgan Ramthun hit 1-of-2 free throws with 0:28 left to give the Tritons a 25-23 lead at the break.
UMSL hit five of its first nine shots to begin the third quarter and outscored McKendree 11-4 over the first five minutes of the stanza to take a 36-27 lead after
Alex Wolff hit 1-of-2 at the charity stripe.
The Bearcats got back-to-back three's from Maci Meyer to cut the Triton lead to 36-33 with 3:26 left in the quarter. UMSL scored nine of the final 13 points of the frame to take an eight-point cushion into the final 10 minutes.
McKendree scored the first five points of the final period to get within three with 8:24 to play. The Tritons countered with seven straight to build its largest lead of the contest at 52-42 after a conventional three-point play from
Morgan Ramthun at the 6:49 mark.
UMSL still led by nine with 4:21 left but McKendree wouldn't quit scoring seven of the next eight points to get within 56-53 after a three-pointer from Harper with 59.9 remaining. The Tritons had a chance to extend its lead to five but turned it over on a shot clock violation.
The Bearcats got two free throws from Naomi McDaniel with 0:26 left to get within one.
After a timeout, McKendree was forced to foul and sent Blake to the line who hit two free throws to extend the lead.
The Bearcats had a chance to tie the game but Harper missed a three and Maclayne Taylor got the rebound. Meyer missed a jumper as Stokes came away with the rebound. UMSL sealed the game at the line as
Kiara Stewart hit two free throws with 0:05 left.
The Tritons shot 36 percent (24-for-67) from the floor in the contest including 3-of-8 from three and shot 64 percent at the foul line. Stokes led three UMSL players in double figures with 17 points while Stewart finished with a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Blake added 12 points.
McKendree also shot 36 percent (19-for-52) in the contest but was 9-of-23 from three and shot 67 percent at the foul line. Harper led the Bearcats with 13 points off the bench while McDaniel added 11.
UMSL continues its three-game road trip on Saturday with a trip to Indianapolis to take on the Greyhounds at 12 p.m. (CST) at Nicoson Hall.
