ST. LOUIS – Despite a fourth quarter surge the University of Missouri-St Louis women's basketball team lost to Parkside 71-62 on Saturday afternoon at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons are now 1-1 on the season while the Rangers improve to 2-0.
 
Parkside jumped out to an early five-point lead but UMSL rallied tying the game on a three-pointer from Katie Hamill with 6:10 left in the stanza. The two sides traded points over the final five minutes of the frame and were tied at 13 at the quarter break.
 
The Tritons went cold in the second quarter, struggling to find their offense. The Rangers scored seven points in a row to start the quarter off and push the lead to seven.  Hamill hit a three pointer and Morgan Ramthun hit a layup to pull UMSL within four but Parkside closed the quarter on a 10-4 run to take a 32-22 lead into the locker room at the break.
 
The Tritons opened the third quarter on an 11-6 run highlighted by five points from Hamill and four points from Alex Wolff to cut the Ranger lead to five but Parkside countered with a 10-5 run to push its lead back to 10 on a three-pointer from Sheridan Flauger with 2:43 left in the quarter.
 
UMSL closed the frame strong thanks to an 8-2 run to draw within 50-46 heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
The Tritons carried that momentum into the final stanza scoring the first nine points to take their only lead of the game after a jumper by Wolff at the 8:13 mark. UMSL grabbed its largest lead of the afternoon after a three from Audrey Martinez-Stewart 68 seconds later.
 
The Rangers ran off seven straight points over the next two minutes to regain the lead but two free throws from Martinez-Stewart tied the score at 57.
 
Parkside ran off another seven in a row and wouldn't look back as part of a 14-0 run over the next 4:27 to pull away for a 71-59 lead. Kate Rolfes hit a three-pointer from the right wing at the buzzer for the final margin.
 
The Tritons finished the afternoon shooting 24-for-65 (36.9 percent) from the field including 30% from the three-point line and was 8-of-15 at the charity stripe. Hamill led UMSL in scoring with 12 points will Ramthun had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Wolff added nine points and Martinez-Stewart had seven points and three steals.
 
The Rangers shot 42.2 percent (28-for-66) from the floor were 7-of-23 from the three-point line and shot 67 percent at the foul line. Peighton Nelson finished with a game-high 22 points, three assists, and a steal. Flauger added 13 points and four assists while Cassidy Arni had 12 points. Chloe Van Zeeland added 10 rebounds.
 
The Tritons return to the court on Friday (Nov. 15) taking on University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy at 5 p.m. at the UHSP Gymnasium.