OWENSBORO, Ky. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team cut a nine-point deficit fourth quarter deficit to three in the final three minutes but couldn't get over the hump in a 67-61 loss to Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon at the Owensboro Sportscenter in Owensboro, Ky.

The Tritons drop to 6-4 while the Panthers improve to 8-1.

UMSL got off to a fast start hitting seven of its first 15 shots to build an 18-6 lead with 2:10 left in the opening quarter but Kentucky Wesleyan scored the final four points of the frame to cut the Triton lead to eight by the end of the stanza.

The Panthers carried that momentum into the second quarter scoring the first nine points of the frame to take a 19-18 lead after two free throws from Shaylee McDonald with 6:31 left in the first half.

After being held scoreless for nearly nine minutes UMSL responded with an 8-0 run to retake the lead at 26-19 after a three-point play from Jalysa Stokes. KWC wouldn't go away scoring seven of the final nine points of the half to cut the Triton lead to 28-26 at the half.

The Panthers got hot from the three-point line in the third quarter with seven of their nine field goals coming from beyond the arc to build a 49-37 lead with less than two minutes to play in the stanza. The Tritons got back to within seven in the final 0:30 of the quarter thanks to a 7-2 run but a foul in the closing seconds of the frame sent Myah Montgomery to the line and she hit both free throws to give Kentucky Wesleyan a 53-44 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.

Both sides struggled to score over the first half of the final quarter as the Panthers still led by eight with less than five minutes remaining. UMSL used a 7-2 run in the span of 1:19 to pull within three with 3:06 to go. Stokes had five points in the run while Alex Wolff added a pair.

That would be as close as the Tritons got for the remainder of the contest as Shiya Hoosier answered two possessions later with a jumper in the lane to push the lead back to five.

UMSL trailed by four with 1:02 left after two free throws from Audrey Martinez-Stewart but the Panthers sealed the game at the foul line in the final 0:40 hitting five of eight free throws and got a big basket from Hoosier after a missed throw.

The Tritons outshot KWC in the contest 39.3 percent to 36.7 percent but the difference was the Panthers hit 11-of-32 attempts from downtown while UMSL connected on four of its 16 attempts.

The Tritons shot 93 percent (13-for-14) at the charity stripe and outrebounded KWC 41-32 in the contest.

Stokes finished with a game and season-high 28 points while Morgan Ramthun added nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Wolff had eight points and Brooke Woodyard chipped in with seven off the bench.  

Emmy Ralph led three Panthers in double figures in scoring with 19 points while Jordyn Barga record a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds and McDonald added 10 points.

UMSL wraps up its first semester schedule on Tuesday (Dec. 19) afternoon hosting Purdue Northwest at 1 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.