ST. LOUIS -- The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team fell to Parkside 82-73 on Saturday afternoon at De Simone Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The Tritons are 1-1 on the season while the Rangers are 3-2.
UMSL got off to fast start and led Parkside 13-7 in the opening quarter behind eight points from
Mara Rieder while
Lexi Hanna added three and
Morgan Ramthun had two. The Rangers closed the quarter on an 8-0 run to take a two-point lead into the second quarter.
The Rangers carried the momentum into the second frame, scoring the first five points to extend their lead to seven but the Tritons rallied to cut the deficit to two at the intermission.
In the third quarter, Rieder and Ramthun carried the offense early but Parkside answered point for point and built an 11-point lead with 3:08 left in the stanza. Hanna hit a three to cut the deficit to single digits before the Rangers scored the final four points to take a 12-point lead into the final 10 minutes.
Despite finding the basket consistently in the fourth quarter, the Tritons could only narrow Parkside's lead to eight points. Ramthun scored off a turnover with just over two minutes left but the Rangers answered with a three a minute later to seal the win.
Jayden Kuper made a two-point basket with 20 seconds left to make it 82-73 for the final score.
Rieder led UMSL with 28 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Kuper had 13 points and five assists while
Anna Costa Riera had eight assists on the afternoon.
The Tritons shot 48 percent (30-for-62) from the floor including 7-of-18 from three and shot 67 percent at the foul line.
Parkside was 29-for-59 from the field, 11-of-24 from three and shot 81 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded UMSL 33-to-31 and was led in scoring by
Katie Hamill with 23 points while Lillie Petersen added 20 points.
The Tritons conclude their season opening three-game road trip at Kentucky Wesleyan next Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Owensboro, Ky.