ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team warmed up in the third quarter erasing all of a 12-point first half deficit but couldn't sustain the momentum in the fourth quarter as Maryville handed the Tritons a 67-65 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building.

Trailing 35-25 at the half, UMSL (8-11, 6-7 GLVC) opened the third quarter on a 19-8 run to take its first lead of the contest at 44-43 on a layup by Emerson Weller with 4:03 left to play in the stanza. The lead changed hands three times over the final four minutes of the quarter as the Saints (11-8, 8-5 GLVC) regained the lead on a three-pointer by Haidyn Pitsch on their next possession.

Weller tied the game at 46 with a layup off the break after Audrey Martinez-Stewart started it grabbing a rebound off a missed three by Pitsch and passed it to Weller for the basket. Maryville answered on the other end as Pitsch hit another three but the Tritons scored the next four points getting two free throws from Mara Rieder and jumper in the paint by Amaya Blake to take a 50-49 lead in the final minute of the frame.

The Saints got two free throws from Carsyn Fearday with 0:23 left in the quarter to take a 51-50 lead into the final quarter.

Maryville extended its lead to three on its first possession of the final frame as Jenna Cotter scored on a put back off her own miss. The Tritons tied the game on a three-pointer from Martinez-Stewart but Pitsch hit two free throws to give the Saints the lead right back.

UMSL scored nine of the next 12 points behind five points from Rieder while Weller and Jalysa Stokes added two points each to give the Tritons their biggest lead of the contest at 62-58 with 3:23 remaining.

UMSL led 64-62 with 1:23 remaining when Martinez-Stewart was fouled and went to the line but only hit 1-of-2 to make it a three-point game.

Maryville tied the game on the next possession as Karlee Feldman was fouled with 0:59 left. She made the first but missed the second and Annika Pluemer got the offensive rebound. Feldman hit a layup with 0:51 left to even the score at 65.

The Tritons advanced the ball to midcourt with a timeout and had a chance to regain the lead but Stokes jumper was off the mark and Feldman got the rebound. The Saints advanced the ball into the front court and held for the final shot. Fearday was fouled on a shot attempt in the paint and sank both free throws with 3.2 seconds left to give Maryville a 67-65 lead.

UMSL had a final chance to tie the game but Martinez-Stewart's shot was blocked by Feldman and the Tritons couldn't get off another attempt before the buzzer sounded to end the game.

UMSL outshot the Saints in the contest 41.8 percent to 35.5 percent from the field but the difference was at the foul line where Maryville shot 85 percent (17-for-20) to the Tritons 42 percent (8-of-19).

Stokes and Rieder led UMSL with 18 points apiece while Martinez-Stewart, Weller and Morgan Ramthun had six points each. Rieder also added eight boards and four blocked shots. The Tritons held a 43-42 advantage on the glass.

Pitsch and Fearday led the way for the Saints with 18 points each while Feldman finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Maryville was 6-for-21 from three in the contest.

UMSL is back in action next Thursday as it travels to Fayette, Iowa to take on Upper Iowa at 5 p.m.