ST. LOUIS – Jalysa Stokes scored a career-high 38 points in the University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team's 97-77 win over Illinois Springfield on Saturday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons improve to 7-10, 5-6 GLVC while the Prairie Stars fall to 2-17, 2-9 GLVC.
Stokes led four UMSL players in double figures in scoring and had a game-high in the contest.
Morgan Ramthun added 17 points,
Amaya Blake had 16 points while
Kiara Stewart finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. Stokes 38 points is tied for fifth most in a single game in school history.
The 97 points were a season-high for the Tritons as were their 32 made field goals, eight made three-pointers, 25 made free throws, 64 percent shooting from the floor and 73 percent shooting from three.
UMSL shot 64 percent from the field in the opening quarter while holding UIS to just 31 percent shooting and held a 13-point lead at the end of the frame. Blake and
Shania Liburd had seven points each in the quarter.
The Tritons extended their lead to 17 after Blake hit 1-of-2 free throws with 5:55 left in the second quarter. The Prairie Stars closed the quarter on an 11-6 run to cut UMSL's lead to 40-31 at the intermission.
The two sides traded baskets over the first three and a half minutes of the second half and it was still a nine-point game after Brianna Zajicek hit two free throws. The Tritons extended their lead over the next 2:30 with an 8-2 run to make it 59-44. Stokes scored five points in the run while Ramthun added a three-pointer in the run.
UIS ended the quarter outscoring UMSL 12-7 to cut the lead to 10 heading into the final stanza.
The Prairie Stars continued to hang around getting to within eight with 6:27 remaining but wouldn't get closer than that as the Tritons finished the game on a 25-13 run to seal the victory.
Stokes played all 40 minutes hitting 12-of-16 shots including 6-of-7 from three and was 8-for-8 at the charity stripe.
UIS shot 46 percent from the field in the contest, was 4-of-18 from three and shot 88 percent at the foul line. Ariyah Douglas led the Prairie Stars with 22 points while Liz Uhl had 20 points and Zajicek finished with 16 points.
UMSL heads back out on the road next weekend as it travels to Liberty, Mo., to take on William Jewell next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Mabee Center.
