ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team extended its winning streak to six with a gritty 61-53 win against Maryville on Tuesday night at Moloney Arena on the campus of Maryville University. The Tritons improve to 7-1, 4-0 GLVC while the Saints drop to 7-2, 3-1 GLVC.

UMSL fell behind 10-4 to start the game before outscoring Maryville 14-6 the rest of the quarter to take a 20-18 lead into the second stanza. The Tritons made two of their first six shots but finished the quarter strong hitting five of their final eight including 3-of-5 from three.

The two sides exchanged buckets over the first seven-plus of minutes of the second frame but UMSL continued to hold the lead until a three from Bree Shannon with 2:18 to go in the half. The Tritons were unfazed as Mara Rieder and Jayden Kuper hit back-to-back shots in the final 0:30 of the half to give UMSL a 28-25 lead at the break.

The Tritons extended their lead to five to start the second half on a layup from Morgan Ramthun but the Saints countered with a 9-4 run to knot the game at 34 on a jumper from Lindsey Schadewalt with 5:39 left in the quarter. UMSL regained the lead on a layup from Ramthun and then Kuper made it a four-point advantage on a pull up jumper.

Maryville cut the deficit to one a couple of times but the Tritons didn't yield extending their lead to four on a three-point play from Kuper in the closing seconds of the period. Gracie Gopalan made it a one-point game hitting three free throws to close the quarter.

UMSL scored the first four points of the final stanza to extend its lead to five on a driving layup from Ramthun but the Saints countered with six straight points to take its first lead since late in the second quarter on a layup from Alicia Burgos with 4:28 left.

Lexi Hanna sandwiched two three's around two free throws from Rieder as part of a 10-0 run spanning nearly three minutes which allowed the Tritons to take their biggest lead of the contest at 61-52.

Maryville got a free throw from Liz Behan with 0:24 and then UMSL dribbled out the clock to seal the victory.

The Tritons shot 48 percent (24-for-50) from the floor in the contest including 5-of-16 from three and shot 89 percent at the foul line and outrebounded Maryville 32-to-24 in the contest. Kuper had a game-high 15 points and was joined in double figures by Rieder with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Ramthun also added 14 points. Anna Costa Riera dished out five assists in the game.

The Saints were held to 38 percent (19-for-50) shooting in the contest including 4-of-13 from three and shot 85 percent at the foul line. Schadewalt led Maryville with 13 points with Burgos adding 10 points.

UMSL returns home on Saturday (Dec. 13) hosting Michigan Tech at 1 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building. It'll be the start of a four-game homestand for the Tritons.