ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team had three players reach double figures in scoring in its 70-62 loss to Purdue Northwest on Tuesday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building.

The Tritons (6-5) led by as many as seven near the end of the third quarter and took a 49-44 lead into the final 10 minutes. The Pride (6-5) opened the final frame on an 8-2 run to take a 52-51 lead on a driving layup by Dash Shaw.

The two sides swapped baskets over the next four minutes as UMSL lead 59-57 after a layup by Tori Standefer with 3:25 to play in the contest. Purdue Northwest tied the game on a layup by Mercedes Simmons with an assist from Lauren Hawthorne on its next possession and then took the lead 0:40 later as Simmons hit a jumper from the free throw line.

The Tritons had a chance to tie the game but Jalysa Stokes missed a pull up jumper and then Hawthorne buried a three-pointer from the top of the key on the next possession after an offensive rebound by Shaw to make it a five-point game with 1:34 remaining.

Alex Wolff had a chance to make it a one possession game with 1:16 left as she was fouled by Simmons but made only 1-of-2 cutting the deficit to four points. The Pride put the game away on the next possession as Simmons threw up a hook shot that went in and was fouled by Audrey Martinez-Stewart. Simmons hit the free throw to make it a three-possession game.

Purdue Northwest took its largest lead of the game at 69-60 after two free throws from Shaw with 0:39 left. Amaya Blake scored after an offensive rebound pulling UMSL within seven but a free throw from Kennedy Jackson sealed the win for the Pride.

Purdue Northwest shot 90 percent from the floor and 78 percent at the foul line in the final stanza as it outscored the Tritons 26-13. Simmons and Shaw combined to score 22 those points in the quarter and combined to shoot 8-for-8 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the foul line.

Shaw led all scorers with 25 points while Simmons finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. The Pride shot 56 percent from the field was 5-of-15 from three and shot 83 percent at the charity stripe.

Wolff and Morgan Ramthun finished with 17 points apiece to lead UMSL. The 17 points for Wolff were a career high. Stokes added 13 points. Wolff finished with eight rebounds while Ramthun grabbed seven boards. The Tritons were held to 40 percent shooting in the contest, were 1-of-9 from three and shot 73 percent at the foul line.

UMSL outrebounded PNW 33-27 including 15-3 on the offensive end and outscored it by 15 points off second chance opportunities.

The Tritons play their final game of 2023 next Friday traveling to Kenosha, Wis., to take on Parkside at noon at De Simone Arena.