LIBERTY, Mo. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team rallied from a six-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat William Jewell 57-54 at the Mabee Center on Thursday evening in Liberty, Mo. The Tritons improve to 8-10, 6-6 GLVC while the Cardinals drop to 4-18, 2-10 GLVC.

UMSL got off to a slow start missing nine of its first 11 shots and found themselves in an early six-point hole as William Jewell hit its first three attempts from beyond the arc. The Tritons went on a 12-4 run and took its only lead of the quarter on a layup from Olivia Mezan with 0:34 left in the frame. The Cardinals tied the game on the ensuing possession as Bree Shannon hit a jumper.

WJC hit back-to-back three's to begin the second quarter to regain its six-point lead less than three minutes into the stanza. UMSL went on an 11-4 run to regain the lead as Amaya Blake hit a pull-up jumper on the baseline with 1:23 left in the quarter. The Cardinals quickly regained the lead though as Shannon scored on a driving layup. Blake gave UMSL the lead right back though as she hit a five-foot jumper as the shot clock expired with 0:31 left in the half. William Jewell hit two free throws with two seconds left in the frame to give it a 29-28 lead at the break.

The two teams went back-and-forth to start the second half as the Cardinals continued to hold the lead until less than four minutes to play in the quarter after two free throws from Kiara Stewart put the Tritons in front 37-36. The lead would be short lived though as Chloe Frank hit a three on the ensuing possession to give William Jewell the lead right back. Frank's three sparked a 9-4 run over the remainder of the quarter giving the Cardinals a 45-41 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

WJC extended its lead to six on the first possession of the final stanza as Emree Zars hit a jumper in the lane. UMSL got back to within three after an old fashioned three-point play from Morgan Ramthun. The Cardinals pushed their lead back to five after a layup from Libby Arnold with 7:45 remaining.

The Tritons went on an 8-1 run over the next 3:40 to regain the lead at 52-50 on a jumper from Ramthun. William Jewell tied the game on the next possession after a put back on the fourth attempt by Skyler Boylan.

UMSL regained the lead after two free throws from Stewart and then grabbed its largest lead of the game with 1:39 left as Ramthun hit 1-of-2 at the charity stripe. The Cardinals cut the lead to one in the final minute as Shannon hit two free throws. Jalysa Stokes gave the Tritons their three-point lead back on the next possession as she hit a driving layup down the left side of the lane.

William Jewell had a chance to cut it to one but Ayden Shannon missed a layup and Stewart got the rebound and was fouled by Boylan with 0:11 left. Stewart had a chance to ice the game at the line but missed both and Frank got the rebound. Frank had a chance to send the game to overtime but her shot from the left wing at the buzzer was short.

UMSL struggled shooting the basketball as it was held to 35 percent (22-for-63) from the field, was 2-of-12 from three but shot 73 percent at the foul line. Ramthun led the Tritons in scoring with 14 points and added 11 rebounds while Stewart added 13 points and a game-high 15 boards. Stokes finished with 10 points.

The Cardinals were held to just 29.5 percent shooting (18-for-61) and were just 3-of-20 from the floor in the last 10 minutes. They hit of 8-of-24 three-point attempts but struggled at the line shooting 56 percent. A. Shannon had a game-high 15 points while Frank finished with 13 points.

UMSL continues its road trip on Saturday as it travels to Kirksville, Mo., to take on Truman State at 1 p.m. at Pershing Arena.