ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team dropped its regular season finale to Drury 62-55 on Thursday evening at the Mark Twain Building. The Tritons finish the regular season with a record of 19-8, 12-7 GLVC while the Panthers improve to 20-6, 16-3 GLVC.

UMSL has clinched the number four seed in next weekend's Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at Hyland Arena on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo. The Tritons will likely play either Maryville or Missouri S&T in the four-five matchup at 6 p.m. on Friday (March 7). The final pairings will be announced after Saturday's games are completed.

It was a rough start for both teams shooting as they combined to shoot 7-for-29 from the floor in the first 10 minutes as Drury took a 12-9 lead into the second frame.

The Panthers opened the second quarter on a 7-2 run to take their largest lead of the half at 19-11 after a layup by Rhi Gibbons 2:12 into the period. UMSL countered scoring 10 straight points to take its only lead of the contest on a three-pointer from Kate Rolfes with 4:50 to play in the half. Mara Rieder had four points in the run while Rolfes and Morgan Ramthun had three points apiece.

The lead was short lived as Drury ran off seven straight before a jumper in the paint from Rieder ended the run and brought the Tritons back within three. The Panthers took a five-point lead into the break on a layup from Caitlynn Daniels right before the buzzer.

Drury opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run to take its largest lead of the contest at 37-23 on a jumper from Gibbons less than four minutes in. UMSL chipped away at the deficit pulling to within six late in the stanza but another layup from Daniels gave the Panthers an eight-point cushion heading into the final 10 minutes.

The Tritons got as close as three on three different occasions in the final quarter but were unable to draw any closer as Drury pulled away in the final minute by scoring six of the final 10 points to secure the victory.

UMSL was held to 32 percent (21-for-65) shooting from the floor in the contest, was 5-of-20 from three and shot 73 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded the Panthers 46-37 including 19-10 on the offensive end.

Rieder led the Tritons with 15 points while Katie Hamill added 11 and Ramthun and Anna Costa Riera had nine points each. Ramthun also grabbed 13 boards finishing one-point shy of a double-double.

Drury finished the game shooting 42 percent (23-for-55) from the field including 4-of-15 from three and shot 71 percent (12-for-17) at the foul line. Daniels led all scorers with 26 points while Gibbons added 14.