ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team rallied from an 11-point first half deficit to defeat Lewis 84-81 in double overtime on Monday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena in Romeoville, Ill. The Tritons improve to 6-9, 4-5 GLVC while the Flyers drop to 10-7, 6-3 GLVC.
Jalysa Stokes and
Amaya Blake paced UMSL as each recorded career-highs in scoring. Stokes finished with a game-high 29 points while Blake added 27 points.
Kiara Stewart had a season-high 13 rebounds and
Morgan Ramthun had a career-high 11 rebounds in the contest.
The Tritons jumped out to an early five-point lead but Lewis rallied to take a 22-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Flyers went on an 11-2 run over the span of 4:30 minutes in the second period to take its largest lead of the contest at 33-22 after two free throws from Taylor Gugliuzza. UMSL scored the final three points of the half to cut Lewis' lead to eight at the break.
The Tritons cut the Flyers halftime lead to four with 3:38 left in the third quarter after two free throws from Stewart but Lewis scored seven of the final 11 points of the quarter to take a 54-47 lead into the final 10 minutes.
UMSL trailed by nine midway through the fourth stanza before going on a 10-0 run over a span of 2:26 to take a 63-62 lead on a layup from Blake with two minutes remaining. It was the Tritons first lead since early in the contest. The Flyers answered on the other end as Stephanie Hart scored on a layup with 0:34 left.
UMSL advanced the ball after a timeout and Stokes hit a pull-up jumper with 0:27 left to put the Tritons back in front 65-64. Grace Hilber missed a jumper on the other end with 0:10 left as Blake came away with the rebound.
Lewis was forced to foul and sent Stewart to the line for two shots. She missed the first but made the second to extend the lead to 66-64 with 0:07 to play. The Flyers tied the game as Gugliuzza hit a running jumper with 1.4 left.
UMSL scored the first eight points of the first overtime period and appeared to be in control after Stewart's layup with 2:27 left in the session. Lewis responded with the next seven to get within one at 74-73 after Kathryn Schmidt scored on a put back of a Gugliuzza miss.
Blake extended the Triton lead to three hitting a pull-up jumper with 0:41 to go. After a timeout, the Flyers tied the game again as Schmidt hit a three-pointer from the right corner with 0:36 left.
UMSL had a chance to win the game but Ramthun missed a shot in traffic and Hart got the rebound. Lewis had a chance to win the game but Jenna Badali missed a three at the buzzer from the right wing.
The Flyers scored three of the first four points of the second overtime to retake the lead The Tritons had their chances to tie the game but missed four of six at the foul line. Lewis couldn't take advantage though missing six straight shots.
UMSL tied the game on a jumper by Stokes with 1:06 left. After a stop on the other end, Ramthun was fouled on a drive to the basket and hit both free throws to put the Tritons in front 82-80 with 0:13 to play.
The Flyers had a shot to tie the game as Gugliuzza was fouled by Blake on a drive to the basket but only made 1-of-2 at the line as Stewart got the rebound.
Olivia Mezan was fouled by Hart and hit both free throws to extend the lead to three. Tara Gugliuzza missed a desperation three at the buzzer allowing UMSL to secure the win.
The Tritons shot 46 percent in the contest made a season-high 31 field goals in the victory while shooting 5-of-19 from three and was 17-for-33 at the foul line. They outrebounded Lewis 41-to-36 in the game and scored 27 points off of turnovers.
The Flyers shot 43 percent from the floor making 29-of-67 shots including 8-for-18 from three and shot 79 percent at the foul line. Tay. Gugliuzza led four Lewis players in double figures with 18 points while Schmidt added 16, Badali had 11 and Hilber finished with 11.
UMSL is back at home this Thursday (Jan. 19) hosting Quincy at 5:30 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.
