Tamara McCaskill

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. -- It may have been a little nerve-racking in the final moments, but the Missouri S&T women’s basketball team got a big road victory in Great Lakes Valley Conference play Saturday by knocking off Lewis 67-60 in Neil Carey Arena.

With the win, the Lady Miners extended their winning streak to seven games -- their longest winning streak since the start of the 1995-96 season when they won their first nine games. More importantly, the victory will keep S&T atop the standings by themselves in the GLVC West Division.

The Lady Miners had one of their best halves of the season in the first 20 minutes, taking a 35-25 lead to the locker room as they shot 63.6 percent from the floor and held the Flyers to 33.3 percent shooting.

Much of the offensive damage in the opening half was done by McCaskill, who scored 19 points and missed just one of her nine shots during that span.

S&T came out in the second half and extended the lead to 18 in the first four-plus minutes, moving up 43-25 after a baseline jumper by McCaskill.

Lewis was able to close the gap to nine with 9:30 to play after a pair of three-pointers by Jennifer Green, then after a McCaskill free throw put the lead back at 10, Kelly Dianis converted a three-point play and then a three-pointer moments later to make it a six-point game.

With just under three minutes to go, Lauren Martens cut the S&T lead to five with a three-point play, then a turnover gave the Flyers a chance to make it a one-possession game. However, the Lady Miners got a defensive stop and Lauren Dubbert made two free throws at the other end to make it 58-51 in S&T’s favor.

Lewis made one more push as a Dianis basket with 35 seconds left drew it to within three, but Chism McEntire hit two free throws with 17 seconds to go and the Lady Miners forced two turnovers in the final 12 seconds, the last leading to a Jaime Forsberg layup to lock up the victory.

McCaskill scored a career-high 26 points for S&T while Katie Bunge finished with 13. The Lady Miners ended the game at 60.5 percent from the field, their second-best mark of the season, and outrebounded the Flyers 29-22 to overcome their 25 turnovers.

Lewis (8-6, 6-3 GLVC) was led by Dianis with 14 points.

The Lady Miners (12-2, 6-1 GLVC) return home for their next two games starting with Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. tilt with Bellarmine at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.