Katie McElrath has been the Lady Miners' top field goal shooter throughout the 2007-08 season and had the ball in her hands with the clock winding down Thursday night -- only it wasn't in a spot where she normally takes her shots.
No problem.
The junior sank a long three-pointer with five seconds to play -- and one on the shot clock -- to break a 56-all tie and give Missouri S&T a thrilling 59-56 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.
It appeared for a good portion of the night that no such heroics would be needed, as the Lady Miners built as much as a 19-point lead in the first four minutes of the second half. However, the Panthers kept chipping away at the lead and finally caught up with 1:35 to play.
Missouri S&T came out on fire to open the game, scoring 14 of the game's first 16 points to take a 12-point lead four minutes into the contest. Much of the early damage was done by Tamara McCaskill, who scored half of the Lady Miner points in the early run and 16 in the half that saw S&T ahead 38-20 at the intermission.
The Panthers shot just 21 percent in the opening half, but turned the tables on the Lady Miners after the break and especially after S&T moved ahead 45-27 with 15:25 left. The Lady Miners managed to score just 11 points over the next 15-plus minutes, allowing the Panthers to claw back into the game.
Kentucky Wesleyan got the margin into single digits on a pair of free throws by Laura McClintic with 8:36 left, then eventually forged the first tie of the game when LaTasha Henry, KWC's leading scorer who was held in check for much of the night, hit a short jumper with 1:35 to go.
Both teams had opportunities to get the lead before the Lady Miners got the ball back after a miss by KWC's Fontay Martin with 37 seconds to play. After a timeout, S&T ran down the shot clock before Jennifer Pena passed the ball back outside to McElrath, who knocked down the shot from beyond the top of the key to break the tie.
The Panthers moved the ball to midcourt and called a timeout themselves with three seconds to go, but Candace Garrett's contested three-pointer was off the mark at the buzzer.
McCaskill led the Lady Miners with 20 points, the most by a Lady Miner in a game this season, while McElrath also reached double figures with 13. S&T had only 12 turnovers in the game as it finished at 43 percent from the floor against the GLVC's stingiest defensive unit in terms of field goal defense.
The Lady Miners (7-2, 2-1 GLVC) will host Southern Indiana (6-4, 1-1 GLVC) in a 1 p.m. Great Lakes Valley Conference game Saturday at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The Screaming Eagles beat Missouri-St. Louis 77-72 Thursday in St. Louis.
Leave a comment