ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team nearly overcame an 18-point second half deficit but came up short in a 63-58 loss at Maryville on Thursday evening at Moloney Arena in St. Louis. The Tritons drop to 9-15, 7-11 GLVC while the Saints improve to 15-10, 10-8 GLVC.

UMSL jumped out to an early lead thanks to a three-pointer from Olivia Mezan but Maryville countered with eight straight to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The Tritons battled back to within 10-9 after a jumper from Shania Liburd but the Saints countered scoring nine of the next 11 points to take its largest lead of the stanza at 19-11 after a 3-pointer from Antoinette Mussorici.

Mezan hit her second throw of the frame to bring UMSL to within five by the end of the quarter.

The Tritons drew to within three 90 seconds into the second quarter and had chances to get closer but were unable to capitalize. Maryville took advantage closing the frame on a 10-2 run to take an 11-point lead into the locker room at the break.

The Tritons cut the lead nine to start the second half before the Saints went on a 9-2 run to extend its lead to 16 on a jumper in the point from Mussorici. UMSL trimmed the deficit to 10 with 3:59 left in the quarter on a layup from Jalysa Stokes before Maryville went on a 9-1 run to build its largest lead of the game at 52-34 after two free throws from Hunter Stidham with 1:10 left in the frame.

Liburd sparked the Tritons as she scored twice in the final 0:10 of the stanza to cut the Saint lead to 14 at the end of the quarter.

Maryville scored five of the first eight points in the final quarter to extend its lead to 15 with 7:38 remaining when UMSL began its run. The Tritons scored 13 straight points and held the Saints scoreless for over four minutes as they cut the lead to a single possession after Kiara Stewart hit 1-of-2 at the foul line.

Maryville pushed its lead back to four after two free throws from Madyson Rigdon with 3:23 to play. Amaya Blake countered on the other end with a layup in the paint but UMSL was never able to tie or retake the lead as the Saints closed the game scoring five of the final seven points to hold on for the victory.

The Tritons shot 39 percent (25-for-65) from the floor in the contest but were 3-of-15 from three and shot 42 percent at the foul line. UMSL outrebounded Maryville 45-to-30 in the contest. Liburd led the Tritons with a career-high 16 points while Mezan finished with 11 points and Stokes chipped in with 10 points.

The Saints shot 40 percent (20-for-50) from the field, were 4-of-16 from three and shot 86 percent at the foul line. Mussorici and Carsyn Fearday led Maryville with 16 points apiece while Rigdon and Haidyn Pitsch had 10 points apiece.

UMSL is back in action next Thursday hosting Indianapolis at 5:30 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.