Yamani Ball

UMR entered Saturday’s game with Oakland City shooting just 29 percent from three-point range -- a fact not lost on those aligned with the visiting Mighty Oaks.

But most of those struggles from long range came earlier in the season, as the Miners had shot the ball well from behind the arc in the last four games before the Christmas break. That trend continued Saturday, as UMR connected on 10-of-21 from three-point land and went on to record a 78-62 win over Oakland City at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

After a slow start from three-point range -- UMR missed six of its first seven attempts -- the Miners warmed up during the course of a 14-8 spurt to close the half that left them with a nine-point lead.

UMR led 25-22 with just under seven minutes to play in the half and still led 30-25 with 3:02 to go before the intermission, but Yamani Ball hit a pair of three-pointers and Tyrone Davidson also connected from long range to give the Miners their biggest lead of the first half at 39-30.

Oakland City scored the first seven points of the second half to close to within two, but that was as close as the Mighty Oaks would get after halftime. The Miners answered that run by outscoring OCU 24-14 over the next ten minutes to go up 63-51.

The Mighty Oaks got back to within eight on a pair of free throws by Keegan Carmony with 5:03 to go, but Owain Hall -- who had only three treys on the entire season prior to Saturday -- hit his second of the game on the Miners’ next trip down the floor to push the lead into double figures for good. UMR finished the game on a 13-5 run.

Davidson and Ball each finished with 18 points to lead the Miners, while Joe Shardo scored 10 points off the bench for UMR. The Miners got their 10 three-point baskets from six different players as they hit double figures in that department for the second time this season.

Not only did UMR shoot the ball well from behind the arc, it had a good day period from the floor as it finished at 50.8 percent. However, the good shooting didn’t carry over to the free throw line where the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s second-best team at the line made only eight of their 15 attempts on the afternoon.

UMR held a 39-27 advantage on the boards, buoyed by a 25-10 difference in the first half.

The Miners, 6-5 overall and 1-3 in the GLVC, return to conference play Thursday when they host Southern Illinois Edwardsville (7-4, 3-1 GLVC) in a 7:30 p.m. game at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

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Jennifer Pena

Jennifer Pena was brought to the Lady Miner basketball program to help provide quality depth at the point guard position.

With starter Jaime Forsberg saddled with foul trouble for most of the first half Saturday, Pena -- along with Tamara McCaskill -- paced a balanced attack that led UMR to an 85-72 victory over Oakland City at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

Pena scored a career-high 16 points off the bench, including four of UMR’s season-high 11 baskets from three-point range, as the Lady Miners (8-3, 2-2 GLVC) won for the third time in a row prior to the resumption of conference play Thursday evening. She also led UMR with five assists in a solid 26-minute outing.

UMR trailed for only the first minute of the contest and made a 17-4 run over a four-minute span midway through the opening half to build a 17-point lead at 29-12. Pena hit a pair of three-pointers during the run that gave UMR its biggest advantage of the half.

However, the Mighty Oaks (6-4) rebounded with a run of their own and got the margin down to three at 38-35 before the Lady Miners closed the half with a six-point lead.

The lead was still at six with 16:09 to play before UMR used an 18-5 spurt -- nailing four threes during the course of the run -- to go up by 19 by the 11:50 mark.

Leading 76-58 with 7:01 to play after a basket by McCaskill, the Lady Miners went into a five-minute scoring drought that allowed Oakland City to draw to within eight with 1:32 to go after two free throws by Karissa Walter. McCaskill scored on the next trip down the floor to halt that string of points and get the game back in the control of the Lady Miners for the final minute.

McCaskill led UMR with 21 points as five Lady Miners scored in double figures. Besides Pena, UMR also got double-figure performances from Nicole Dierking with 12 points and Katie Bunge and Emily Petrea with 10 apiece.

UMR shot 45.8 percent in the game and made 11-of-21 from three-point range, while holding the Mighty Oaks to 36.4 percent shooting. However, Oakland City, which got a game-high 25 points from Walter, was able to stay within reach by going 27-of-33 from the free throw line.

The Lady Miners had a 40-36 advantage on the boards and forced 18 OCU turnovers.

UMR will host Southern Illinois Edwardsville (9-2, 3-1 GLVC) to resume Great Lakes Valley Conference play Thursday at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. Game time is at 5:30 p.m.

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Katie Bunge

Lincoln tried to take on the Lady Miners at a deliberate pace Thursday night, but UMR had an answer for that approach.

The Lady Miners forced the visiting Blue Tigers into 29 turnovers and dominated matters in the second half as they came away with a 62-39 victory over Lincoln at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

It wasn't a perfect game on the offensive end by any stretch for the Lady Miners, except that they connected on seven of their 16 three-point attempts and came away with 17 offensive rebounds. UMR had 21 turnovers itself and had a troubling night at the free throw line as it went just 15-of-29.

However, the defensive play of the Lady Miners against the slower pace that Lincoln tried to play the game at effectively prevented any sort of comeback by the visitors once UMR started to push its lead out in the second half.

The game was tied at 12 after a free throw by Katie Bunge with 9:43 left in the opening half, then thanks to a pair of three-pointers by Emily Petrea, UMR scored 12 of the next 13 points to build its biggest lead of the first half at 24-13.

The Lady Miners led by nine at the intermission as the Blue Tigers (1-11) had more turnovers (15) than field goal attempts (14) in the first 20 minutes of play.

UMR came out in the second half and outscored Lincoln 10-3 over the first eight-plus minutes to move its lead out to 16 and gradually started pushing its lead out to beyond 20 points over the next few minutes. Lincoln was down by 11 with 10:31 to go, but UMR ran off a 13-1 run to put the game on ice.

Bunge led the Lady Miners with 10 points, while Chism McEntire finished with nine and Nicole Dierking and Petrea had eight points apiece. Of the 12 Lady Miners who played Thursday, 11 of them scored.

UMR shot 42.6 percent for the game and shot a similar percentage from three-point range, but barely went over the 50 percent mark at the line. However, UMR had a 36-23 advantage on the boards, including a 25-9 differential in the second half.

The Lady Miners (7-3) will return to play Dec. 30 when they host Oakland City in a 1 p.m. game at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

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Dan Gravlin

The University of Missouri-Rolla is one of 52 institutions in the nation -- and one of just two in the 14-team Great Lakes Valley Conference -- to have both its men's and women's soccer programs earn the Team Academic Award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

UMR's men's team, which also had an individual honored, recorded a team grade point average of 3.26 during the 2005-06 academic year. The women's team came in with a 3.18 team grade point average. Teams must have a 3.0 grade point average to earn the academic award from the NSCAA.

The individual from the men's team that was named was junior forward Dan Gravlin, who last month was selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America soccer team for the 2006 season.

Gravlin, a civil engineering major at UMR, finished the year with one goal and a team-high four assists in the Miners' 9-9-2 campaign. Gravlin had a four-point game during the season with a goal and two assists in a key GLVC win over Missouri-St. Louis in early October.

In the GLVC, Rockhurst also had both of its teams make the NSCAA honor roll list. Two other men's teams, Indianapolis and Wisconsin-Parkside, along with the women's teams from Bellarmine and Northern Kentucky, were recipients of the academic honors as well as the squads from UMR and Rockhurst.

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Jaime Forsberg

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- The Lady Miners needed a miracle Tuesday night -- and their wishes were answered.

Katie Bunge had just seen a shot that could have won the game roll off the rim in the waning seconds of overtime, leaving UMR with one-half of a second to get off a shot to overcome a one-point deficit to Truman State that came courtesy of Georgia Mueller's two free throws with 16 seconds to play.

But Jaime Forsberg got a open off a screen on the wing, took Maggie Thompson's inbounds pass and drained a three-pointer as time expired to give the Lady Miners a 57-55 win over the Bulldogs for their first overtime victory of the season in three tries.

It was a game that the Lady Miners struggled in all evening, as they came out sluggish in the first half and found themselves staring at a 10-point deficit at the intermission. UMR made only five of its 25 shots in the first half, starting out cold and staying that way as the Bulldogs ran out to a 26-16 lead.

But after the teams traded baskets to open the second half, UMR scored on seven straight possessions and was able to grab its first lead of the night at 30-29 on a three-pointer by Chism McEntire with 16:05 to play. The teams swapped the lead for a couple of possessions before the Bulldogs regained a three-point advantage on a trey by Julia Montebello.

Truman pushed that lead out to five before the Lady Miners rattled off seven straight points to retake the lead at 43-41 on a 17-foot jumper by Maggie Thompson at the 8:37 mark. The Bulldogs scored the next four points to get the advantage back before both teams went into an extended scoring drought.

Candace McGee's three-pointer with 2:28 to go gave the Bulldogs a 48-44 lead, but baskets by Bunge and Nicole Dierking in the next minute allowed UMR to tie the game. Both teams then had chances to get the lead late in the contest, but the Lady Miners turned the ball over and Truman missed two shots -- including an open three by McGee -- to send the game into overtime.

UMR, who had already dropped overtime games to Lynn and Drury this season, led for much of the overtime period and built its biggest lead of the night at four on a second chance basket by Dierking with 2:46 to go. But another three-pointer by McGee drew Truman to within one, then the Bulldogs got their only lead in the extra period when Mueller -- who led all scorers with 25 points -- hit the two free throws with 16 seconds to go.

Tamara McCaskill had a shot blocked on UMR's ensuing trip down the floor, then Bunge had a chance when she drove the baseline but missed the shot. The Lady Miners were given possession after the scramble for the rebound to set up the opportunity for Forsberg to cash in the game-winner.

Dierking and Bunge both finished with double-doubles for UMR, with Dierking posting team highs with 15 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Bunge had 13 points and 10 boards while McCaskill finished with 11 points. UMR shot 34.6 percent for the game, but connected on 44.7 percent of their attempts after halftime.

The Lady Miners held Truman to 32.8 percent shooting for the night and outrebounded the Bulldogs (5-3) 44-39.

UMR (6-3) will host Lincoln Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Blue Tigers fell to 1-10 with a 73-53 loss Tuesday at Harding.

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Casey Noll

Given the results of Central Christian's first two encounters against NCAA Division II competition this season, Monday's game against UMR at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building fell right in line with those contests.

Five players scored in double figures for the Miners as they wiped out Central Christian 104-30 Monday. The victory pushes the Miners' record to the .500 mark at 5-5 as they take a nine-day break in the schedule for Christmas.

The contest was decided right from the start, as UMR scored the first six points, 19 of the first 20 and led 34-6 with 7:28 left in the first half. The Miners held the Heralds (3-9) to 19.6 percent shooting on the night (10-of-51) and forced 30 turnovers which led to 46 UMR points at the other end.

The turnovers and missed shots also led to 28 fast-break points by the Miners, who broke the 100-point mark for the first time since beating Central Bible 100-71 on Dec. 8, 2003.

UMR led 49-11 at halftime, then shot 62.9 percent in the second half as it outscored Central Christian 55-19 after the intermission to record its largest margin of victory since beating Calvary Bible 127-42 -- an 85-point victory -- four days prior to the Central Bible game in 2003.

The 30 points given up by the Miners on Monday were the fewest in any game since a 1948 game against Parks Air College when the Miners posted a 60-26 win.

The Miners had five players land in double figures in the game, led by Yamani Ball with 19 points. UMR also got 17 from Casey Noll, 16 from Marquis Jones, 15 from Tyrone Davidson as he posted another double-double and 10 from Shea Wiemann.

Davidson had 14 rebounds to go with his 15 points for his fourth double-double of the season. In addition, he tied a UMR single-game record by blocking eight shots, matching the mark set by Dave Moellenhoff in a 1985 game against Missouri Valley.

Davidson has blocked 21 shots in the Miners' first 10 games of the season.

UMR also held a whopping 55-24 advantage on the boards against the Heralds.

The Miners' next game will take place Dec. 30 against Oakland City at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. Game time will be at 3 p.m. following the women's game that afternoon.

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Ashton Gronewold

Ashton Gronewold's big junior year has netted him All-America status for the second year in a row.

The wide receiver from Carthage, Ill., was selected to the Associated Press Little All-America second team for the 2006 campaign after a season in which he established a number of UMR records.

Gronewold was one of two wide receivers from either the NCAA Division II or III level named to the second team along with Michael Clark from Wesley College. The first team selections were Weston Dressler of North Dakota and Eric Fowler of Grand Valley State, the latter of whom will be playing in the Division II national championship game Saturday.

Gronewold shared the Great Lakes Football Conference's "Offensive Player of the Year" award with Central State running back Derrick Moss after breaking 12 school records over the course of the fall. Among the records he established were his receiving marks of 78 catches for 1,120 yards and for all-purpose yards with 1,788.

He also broke the UMR career marks in receiving and scoring during the season and set new single-game records for receiving yards (229 vs. Morehead State) and all-purpose yards (294 vs. Saint Joseph's). In all, Gronewold scored 17 touchdowns for the season, 15 receiving, one on a kickoff return and another on a punt return.

Gronewold was a first-team selection to the GLFC team as well as D2Football.com's all-independents squad. Last month, he was chosen to the Daktronics All-Southwest region first team.

UMR finished the 2006 season with a record of 6-5.

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Tamara McCaskill

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Lady Miners’ game effort Saturday afternoon came up short thanks to two players who have given them fits over the last two seasons.

Molly Carter and Becky Flippin scored 28 points apiece, with Flippin scoring the game-winning basket on a driving lay-up with 1.3 seconds to play in overtime, to give the Lady Panthers the 84-82 victory at Drury’s Weiser Gym.

UMR forced overtime on a basket by Nicole Dierking with 5.8 seconds to play in regulation time, then tied it with 17 seconds remaining in overtime on a basket by former Lady Panther Katie Bunge. However, Drury put the ball in the hands of Flippin on the wing and she drove to the basket to make the shot just before time expired.

The Lady Miners got a jump on the Lady Panthers going out to an 11-4 lead in the first 4:34 of play on a fast break layup by Tamara McCaskill, who scored 10 points in the opening half. Drury came back to eventually tie the game at 15 on a pair of free throws by Carter, but UMR rattled off an 11-2 run to build its biggest lead of the half.

Nicole Dierking’s driving layup gave UMR a 17-15 lead, then a pair of baskets by Maggie Thompson, a three-pointer by Chism McEntire and another jumper by Thompson in that stretch gave the Lady Miners a 26-17 lead with exactly six minutes left on the clock.

However, the Lady Panthers clawed back and took their first lead since it was 2-0 on a fast break basket by Carter, but a three-point play by Dierking gave UMR the lead back at 31-29.

Drury ended up with the halftime lead at 32-31, however, when a turnover in the backcourt led to a lay-in by Hannah Carter with just two seconds left.

UMR came back and took a 41-37 lead on a three-pointer by McCaskill, but after the Lady Panthers came back to tie it at 41 on baskets by Greta Wiersch and M. Carter, Jaime Forsberg and M. Carter swapped threes to keep the game even until Forsberg hit another long three-point shot to give UMR a 47-44 advantage.

The Lady Miner lead reached six on a fast-break lay-in by McCaskill before Drury got baskets from Sarah Bos and Flippin to trim the margin to two. Flippin hit a three moments later to give the Lady Panthers the lead back at 53-52.

After Josie Polk gave UMR the lead back on a jumper from just inside the three-point line, Flippin nailed another three to give Drury the advantage at 56-55. Drury increased its lead to three and later four, and while the Lady Miners closed to within one on five different occasions, it couldn’t overtake the Lady Panthers until their final run.

McCaskill hit a three-point shot to bring UMR to within a point at 67-66, but Flippin hit a three on Drury’s next trip down the floor. The Drury lead reached six before UMR scored the final six points to send the contest to overtime.

Two free throws by Bunge with 2:08 to play, a backdoor lay-up by Forsberg with 1:36 on the clock and a second chance basket by Dierking with 5.8 seconds to play tied the game.

UMR had one lead in overtime, which came on a put-back by Bunge 21 seconds into the period. Bunge had missed a chance to give UMR a lead with under a minute to go in the overtime when she missed two free throws, but atoned for it by making another put-back after Flippin gave Drury (4-3, 3-1 GLVC) the lead with 28 seconds remaining.

McCaskill led the Lady Miners with 20 points as four UMR players scored in double figures. Bunge had career highs for points with 19 and rebounds with 11 to post her first career double-double, while Dierking had a double-double for the second straight game with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Forsberg also had 12 for UMR.

UMR (5-3, 2-2 GLVC) will return to action with a game at Truman State on Dec. 19.

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Tyrone Davidson

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- An ice-cold first half put the Miners in a deficit it could not overcome as they lost their second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference game away from home 80-66 Saturday afternoon at Drury University.

UMR shot just 25 percent in the first half and scored only two points – on two free throws by Tyrone Davidson – in the final 9:12 of the first half. Those struggles put the Miners into a hole over the last 10 minutes of the opening period.

The Miners were tied with Drury at seven after a three-point basket by Justin Taylor five minutes into play, but the Panthers scored 10 of the next 12 points to build an eight-point lead. UMR drew to within four on a long three-pointer by Joe Shardo at the 10:44 mark, but then went into the drought that put them into a 17-point deficit by halftime.

Casey Noll scored with 9:12 to go in the half, which turned out to be UMR’s last points from the floor in the opening half. That made the score 23-17, then Drury put seven straight points on the board before the Davidson free throws with 4:44 to play.

The Panthers led 36-19 at the intermission, then pushed their lead out beyond 20 points in the early stages of the second half

Davidson had a big second half for the Miners, scoring 14 of his team-high 18 points after the intermission. UMR also hit seven of its 10 three-point baskets in the game in the final 20 minutes, four of which came from Yamani Ball, as it outscored the Panthers 47-44 after the break.

Ball finished with 14 points and Shardo with 13 for the Miners.

UMR had a tough time all afternoon with the Panthers’ combination of Collins Harris and Steven Gum, with Harris doing his damage on the inside with 18 points and Gum connecting on eight three-point baskets for the bulk of his game-high 26 points on the afternoon for the Panthers (7-1, 3-1 GLVC).

The Miners (4-5, 1-3 GLVC) return to action Dec. 18 when they host Central Christian in a 7 p.m. game at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

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Shea Wiemann

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Yamani Ball was feeling it in the second half Thursday night.

When the Miners needed someone to step up and hit a big shot, Ball answered time and time again, scoring 19 of his 22 points to put the Miners in a position to win a key Great Lakes Valley Conference road game.

However, it was the Hawks’ Joey Deas who hit the big shots in overtime, scoring the first eight Rockhurst points as it pulled out an 82-76 overtime victory over UMR at Mason-Halpin Gymnasium.

Deas’ three-pointer – after the Hawks had secured an offensive rebound – gave the Hawks a 78-76 lead that stood up.

UMR had two leads in overtime, the last at 76-75 on a put-back by Shea Wiemann with 1:36 to play, but after Jordan Rider had missed a baseline jumper, the ball came back out to Deas and he drained a 20-footer to give the Hawks the lead.

The Miners trailed 14-13 after a pair of free throws at the 10:09 mark, then Rockhurst went on a 14-0 run to take a 15-point lead. A baseline jumper by Tyrone Davidson for the Miners’ first points in over six minutes halted the run and started a Miner run in which UMR outscored the Hawks 14-3 to finish the half.

UMR got a three-point play from Davidson and four points from Shea Wiemann as it scored 11 straight points to draw to within four, then Yamani Ball finished the half by hitting a three-pointer to make the score 31-27 at halftime.

The Hawks came out in the second half and rebuilt its lead in the early minutes; Aaron Hill’s steal and lay-up with 14:30 to go pushed the lead back into double figures at 44-34. Hill’s second three-pointer of the half with 12:36 to go gave the Hawks a13-point cushion.

Rockhurst led 53-40 with 9:34 to go after two free throws by Kevin Martin, but the Miners rattled off 15 points in succession. Ball’s fast-break three-pointer brought the Miners back to within two at 53-51 with 6:25 to go, then he scored again on a runner off the glass moments later to tie it at 53.

Wiemann gave UMR its first lead of the night the next time down the floor when he made a runner of his own over John Torson. However, Martin stopped the run by scoring after he got an offensive rebound and getting a three-point play out of it to give the lead back to the Hawks at 56-55 with 4:49 remaining.

Casey Noll got the lead back for the Miners with a lay-in on UMR’s next possession, but Martin hit two free throws to make it 58-57 in Rockhurst’s favor with four minutes to go. However, Ball hit another three-point shot from the top of the key to give UMR a 60-58 lead.

UMR led by four at 62-58 after two free throws by Noll, then after Hill knocked down a three for the Hawks, Ball hit a pair of three-point shots on back-to-back trips to get the lead out to seven.

Despite a five-point possession for the Hawks, the Miners still led 72-70 with 22 seconds to go but a turnover gave the ball back to the Hawks with a chance to tie it, which they did when Martin hit a lay-up at the buzzer.

Ball had 22 points to lead UMR while Wiemann finished with 20; Davidson finished with his third straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The Miners shot 62.5 percent in the second half and finished at 44.8 percent overall.

UMR (4-4, 1-2 GLVC) will play Drury Saturday at 1 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.

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Tamara McCaskill

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A strong start to the second half and a big night on the boards helped the Lady Miners overcome a sluggish first 20 minutes as they bumped off Rockhurst 69-54 Thursday night at Mason-Halpin Field House.

UMR shot 53.1 percent (17-of-32) in the second half and outrebounded the Hawks 44-31 for the game as they won for the second time in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. It also got strong play from Tamara McCaskill, who led UMR with 19 points and Nicole Dierking who posted her second career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lady Miners led by as many as nine, 20-11, in the opening half, but Rockhurst was able to claw back into the game even though it never took the lead. UMR led 29-26 at the intermission.

Rockhurst then grabbed its first – and only – lead at 32-31 just over two minutes into the second half on a basket by Erin Morrisey, but UMR got the advantage right back on a three-pointer by McCaskill. A steal by Jaime Forsberg led to a fast break lay-up by Dierking, then another bucket by McCaskill after a Rockhurst miss pushed the Lady Miner lead back to six at 38-32.

The scoring run went to nine straight points on a jumper in the lane by Chism McEntire before Rockhurst got back on the scoreboard on a driving lay-up by Kate Carr.

After the Hawks had trimmed the margin back to two, the Lady Miners rattled off seven straight points, including a three-point play by Dierking after Forsberg saved a ball from going out of bounds. Morrisey halted the run momentarily with a basket that was answered by a three-pointer at the other end by McEntire that gave UMR its biggest lead of 10 at 52-42.

The margin grew to 13 on another three-point basket, this one by Maggie Thompson. Rockhurst got back to within seven with over six minutes left on the clock, but another mini-run by the Lady Miners extended the lead to its largest point at 16 when Forsberg drained a shot from three-point range.

The Lady Miners (5-2, 2-1 GLVC) will face Drury Saturday in a 3:15 p.m. game in Springfield, Mo.

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Casey Noll

Every win for the Miners this season as been one that has put a bad streak to an end -- and one that the Miners really wanted to rid themselves of was finally brushed aside Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to 51.8 percent shooting and five players scoring in double figures, the Miners knocked off Indianapolis 85-71 at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building for their first Great Lakes Valley Conference victory. UMR had gone winless in league play last season and dropped its opener Thursday to Saint Joseph's before winning a game that it never trailed in Saturday.

After each team scored on its first possession, the Miners scored the next nine points and never looked back. Yamani Ball hit two free throws at the 15:31 mark to give UMR an 11-2 lead, then the Miners extended the lead to 15 by the 12:21 mark on a fast break layup by Justin Taylor.

UMR kept its lead in double figures in double figures for the balance of the half, going up by as many as 19 on a three-pointer by Ball with 2:29 to go in the half before the Greyhounds scored the final eight points to make it 41-30 at the end of the half.

Indianapolis got the lead inside of 10 on a basket by Braxton Mills just 10 seconds after the second half started, but the Miners rattled off 11 of the next 15 points to back up by 16. UMR's lead reached as far as 22 at 63-41 when Casey Noll scored inside with 12:12 to go and Indianapolis could only get as close as 11 after that.

Noll led the Miners in scoring with 19 points as he made six of his seven shots from the field and added eight rebounds. Tyrone Davidson recorded his second straight double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while also blocking four shots for the second game in succession. UMR also got 18 points from Ball, 16 from Taylor and 10 from Joe Shardo.

The Miners, who had struggled from three-point range in their last three games, made eight-of-18 from behind the arc Saturday and also went 19-of-23 from the free throw line.

UIndy's DeAndre Brock led all scorers with 23 points, but the Greyhounds (1-2, 0-1 GLVC) made only 39.7 percent of their shots in the contest and were outrebounded by the Miners by a 40-32 margin.

The win also snapped a 28-game losing streak in conference play, as the Miners (4-3, 1-1 GLVC) had lost their last eight games as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, all 19 games last season in league play and Thursday's GLVC opener.

The Miners will return to action Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. game in Kansas City, Mo., against Rockhurst.

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Tamara McCaskill

The Lady Miners managed to get a victory Thursday night in their Great Lakes Valley Conference opener despite struggling to put shots in the basket during the first half. UMR didn't get away with it again Saturday.

Indianapolis held the Lady Miners to 31.4 percent shooting on the afternoon and handed UMR its first loss in Great Lakes Valley Conference play by the score of 59-47 at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building Saturday afternoon. The loss dropped UMR to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in GLVC play.

Despite making just seven of 23 from the field in the first half, the Lady Miners only found themselves down by two at the intermission at 27-25. UMR had a five-point lead early in the contest as Tamara McCaskill got off to a fast start, but the Lady Miners started to bog down after taking that 9-4 lead just over four minutes into play.

Josie Polk's three-point basket with 6:09 left in the half gave UMR at 16-15 lead, but the Greyhounds regained the lead on a basket by Amanda Norris and never trailed again. The score was tied at 21 late in the half before UIndy took the lead on a three-pointer by Karla Mast. UMR got the margin down to two right before the end of the half on a basket by Emily Petrea.

But the Greyhounds used an 20-4 run early in the second half to build a 16-point lead after the game was tied at 27. Tarryn Montgomery's three-point basket started the run, then Mandy Geryak connected three times from behind the arc during the course of the run to help UIndy build its largest lead of the game.

UMR tried to fight back and got the margin lowered to six on a three-pointer by McCaskill with 1:39 to go. However, that would be the last points UMR would score as the Greyhounds made their final six free throws for the 12-point final margin.

Geryak led all scorers in the game with 20 points, including four of the 'Hounds six three-point baskets. Meanwhile, the Lady Miners were only able to make 16 of 51 from the field and five of 17 from three-point land, with McCaskill finishing as the only player in double figures with 16 points.

UMR will return to action Thursday when it faces Rockhurst in a 5:30 p.m. game in Kansas City, Mo.

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Matt Hug

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team gained 10 automatic qualifiers over the weekend for the NCAA Division II Championships as part of its winning performance in the Arkansas-Little Rock Christmas Invitational.

UMR qualified several through three relay teams, with the 400-yard medley relay team of Kyle Kammer, David Calcara, Travis Stensby and Mark Chamberlain posting a time of 3:23.81 that finished just behind Drury's quartet that reached the wall in 3:23.44, the 200-freestyle relay team of Chris Scheuber, Chamberlain, Matt Adams and David Sanchez-Turner making it in a time of 1:22.50 and the 200-medley team of Stensby, Bill Gaul, Adams and Scheuber qualifying Saturday in 1:33.17.

The Miners also had others made the national meet on an individual basis, led by Matt Hug making the automatic qualifying mark in two events. Hug set a school record in the 1,650-yard freestyle Saturday of 15:47.06 after recording a time of 4:31.22 that narrowly missed the school record in the 500-freestyle Friday night. In addition, he won the 200-freestyle in 1:41.94.

Schueber also passed the automatic standard with a second place effort in the 50-yard freestyle with his time of 20.79 in the finals as did Stensby in both the 100-backstroke which he won in 50.84 seconds and the 100-butterfly where he took third place in the finals in 49.58. Stensby later won the 200-butterfly in a time of 1:53.64.

On Saturday, the Miners added Matt Hammond and Gaul to the qualifier list after each qualified in their respective events. Hammond qualified in the preliminary round of the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:04.84, while Gaul made it in the 200-medley relay; individually, he took eighth in the 200-breaststroke in Saturday's competition.

Adams, who did qualify for the meet through the relays, won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 57.57 as his time of 57.43 in the preliminaries missed the automatic mark by just 0.04 seconds. He also had a close miss at the automatic time in the 100-butterfly where finished fourth in 50.37 seconds, just 0.08 off the automatic standard and in the 200-individual medley where he finished second in 1:53.56.

Calcara took second in the finals of the 200-breaststroke as he posted a time of 2:06.66, while Kyle Kammer took third in the 200-backstroke with a time of 1:52.89; he had a faster time in the preliminary round of 1:52.04 that was within a second of the automatic mark. Hammond also took third in the 400-individual medley where his preliminary time of 4:08.97 turned out to be his better mark of the day.

Fourth place finishes were recorded by Chamberlain in the 200-freestyle in 1:44.08, Kammer in the 100-backstroke in 51.91 seconds and the 200-IM in 1:57.51 and Brian Howell in the 200-butterfly in 1:55.97.

Andrew Trowbridge made the B-cut in the 1,650-freestyle in 16:05.32 and the 500-freestyle with a time of 4:36.96 that placed him fifth in the event -- he also took fifth in the 200-freestyle in 1:44.94 -- as did Chamberlain in the 50-freestyle with a time of 21.23 seconds and 100-free in 47.13, as well as Calcara in the 100-breaststroke in 58.47. Scheuber also had a fifth place showing in the 100-butterfly in 50.63, while Howell was sixth in 51.08, both of which fell under the B-cut standard.

Gaul also earned a sixth-place finish in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 58.47 while Scheuber's time of 47.63 in the finals of the 100-freestyle got him a sixth place finish as well.

David Sanchez-Turner took seventh in the 50-free with a time of 21.49 that also made the provisional qualifying standard, while Matt Hammond did likewise in the 100-breaststrole with his preliminary time of 58.89.

While the Miners' 400-medley relay team made the automatic qualifying mark, the 800-freestyle relay team of Chamberlain, Trowbridge, Howell and Hug wasn't quite able to get there as it finished with a time of 6:53.59. The 400-freestyle relay team took second in that event with a time of 3:07.54.

Other top eight finishers Friday included Dustin Spieker in the 400-IM (fifth in 4:14.39) and 200-yard backstroke (sixth in 1:57.67) and Rory Swift in the 200-backstroke (eighth in 1:59.52), while Saturday's other finalists were Andy Shelley in the 200-freestyle (seventh in 1:45.84) and 100-freestyle (eighth in 48.48), Spieker in the 100-backstroke (sixth in 54.66) and Sanchez-Turner in the 100-free (seventh in 47.56).

In the team competition, the Miners won the meet by nearly 80 points over Ouachita Baptist and beat defending national champion Drury by 85 in the final standings. UMR returns to meet competition during the first weekend of January when it competes in an invitational at the University of Indianapolis.

Complete results

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Nicole Dierking

The Lady Miners' shooting percentage in the opening half Thursday night looked like that of a team that had just come in from the snow and sleet outside the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

But after shooting a frigid 26.7 percent in the first 20 minutes, the Lady Miners shot 52 percent after the intermission and took control of a game it would win by a score of 78-66 over Saint Joseph's in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both squads.

The slow start to the game allowed the Pumas to get a jump on the Lady Miners as the visitors led by as many as eight in the early going. A three-pointer by Michelle Bova -- whose last-second basket beat UMR when the teams met last season -- gave Saint Joseph's an 11-3 lead. The lead was still at seven with 9:29 left in the half before UMR started clawing its way back into the game.

An 8-0 run capped by two free throws by Josie Polk gave UMR its first lead at 20-19, but that lead turned out to be short lived as Saint Joseph's pulled back in front by as many as six before the half ended. A lay-up in traffic by Nicole Dierking near the end of the half that cut the lead down to four at 33-29 was a harbinger of things to come in the second half.

Dierking, who was UMR's only consistent scorer in the first half with 12 points, got some scoring help in the final 20 minutes from Tamara McCaskill and Jaime Forsberg. McCaskill had a rough opening half of play, but combined with Forsberg to score 10 points as the Lady Miners rattled off 12 straight points after the Pumas had gone up by seven. The Lady Miners never surrendered the lead once they got it in the second half.

Saint Joseph's was able to hang around for a while, but a three-pointer by Dierking and a jumper by Becca Kueny gave UMR its first double-digit lead of the night at 56-45 with 5:30 to go; the Pumas got no closer than seven from that point on.

Dierking finished with 25 points in the game, her third-highest scoring game of her career, while McCaskill added 14 and Forsberg 11. McCaskill also had nine rebounds and three blocked shots to pace UMR in those categories while Dierking ended up with eight boards. The Lady Miners held Saint Joseph's (0-5, 0-1 GLVC) to 38.3 percent shooting in the game and scored 32 of their 78 points at the free throw line.

UMR (4-1, 1-0 GLVC) will host Indianapolis (2-1, 0-0 GLVC) Saturday in a 1 p.m. contest at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Greyhounds had their game at Missouri-St. Louis Thursday postponed due to the winter weather in the St. Louis area.

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Tyrone Davidson

For a half, the Miners were able to hang with the faster paced style of Saint Joseph's. And for a moment late in the second half, it appeared that UMR might have a chance to pull off a miracle comeback.

But after scoring eight points in a span of 38 seconds to get to within five, the Miners' late rally fell short as the visiting Pumas came away from the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams with an 80-73 win over UMR at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

Both teams shot the ball well in the opening half, as Saint Joseph's (3-1, 1-0 GLVC) hit on 50 percent of its attempts while the Miners were at 48.5 percent. The Pumas had as much as a six-point lead in the early going, but UMR charged back and took its first lead in the game at 27-26 on a basket by Yamani Ball with 5:13 left in the half.

After the Pumas regained the lead, the Miners scored six of the next eight points to go up 33-30 on a lay-in by Dan Kieres. UMR still led 34-32 with 2:46 left in the half, but Saint Joseph's outscored UMR 9-2 to finish the half with a 41-36 lead.

The Pumas scored the first five points of the second half to gain a double-figure lead for the first time in the game, but UMR answered with six straight points to get to within four. However, Saint Joseph's put the next eight points on the board to build its lead to 12 and it maintained a double-figure lead until the final two minutes, when the Miners made a furious run in an attempt to steal the contest.

With Saint Joseph's ahead 75-62, the Miners scored eight points in that span of 38 seconds to get within five with 1:10 to go. Back-to-back three-point baskets by Justin Taylor and Ball, followed by a tremendous block by Tyrone Davidson that sparked a fast break basket by Taylor got the margin down to five.

The Pumas made five of their final six free throws after the Taylor basket to keep the Miners at bay and stop the Miners' modest two-game winning streak.

Davidson finished with a double-double for the Miners with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while adding three assists, two steals and four blocked shots. The Miners also got 17 points from Taylor and 12 from Ball in a game in which they shot 47 percent overall but struggled once again from long range, going just four-of-19 from three-point land.

UMR (3-3, 0-1 GLVC) will host Indianapolis (1-1, 0-0 GLVC) Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Greyhounds' scheduled game at Missouri-St. Louis Thursday night was postponed to Sunday due to the weather in the St. Louis area.

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