Katie Bunge

Prior to Thursday night’s game with Bellarmine, the Lady Miners had just one double-double all season. By getting two such performances in one night, Missouri S&T was able to get a big conference victory as it knocked off Bellarmine 76-65 at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

The Lady Miners got 19 points and 10 rebounds from the reigning Great Lakes Valley Conference “Player of the Week”, Tamara McCaskill, while getting 13 points and 13 boards from Katie Bunge. Add to that the 13 points and eight rebounds by Katie McElrath as well as seven blocked shots from the trio and S&T was able to extend its winning streak to eight games.

S&T never trailed Thursday, jumping out to a 10-2 lead in the first five minutes of play after a three-pointer by Chism McEntire. The lead was at 17-8 before the Knights ran off nine straight points to draw even, but Bunge’s layup 32 seconds after Bellarmine knotted the score put S&T up to stay.

The lead reached 10 on two occasions in the half before S&T settled for a six-point lead at the break. The Knights were down by four with just under 15 minutes to play when a three-pointer by Josie Polk started a surge that eventually saw the Lady Miners push their lead to as many as 16 points over a span of 6:35.

After shooting just 38.9 percent in the opening half, the GLVC’s top shooting team connected on 11-of-18 in the second half (61.1 percent) while holding the Knights to 27.3 percent after the intermission. The Lady Miners finished the night at 46.3 percent and outrebounded Bellarmine 41-37.

The victory improved the Lady Miners to 13-2 on the season and a GLVC West-leading 7-1 heading into Saturday’s 1 p.m. showdown with No. 14 Northern Kentucky at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. NKU suffered a 56-51 upset loss Thursday at Missouri-St. Louis.

(Photo by Rod Lentz)