Lady Miners get back on beam by topping Rockhurst

The Missouri S&T women’s basketball team may have still been feeling some of the sting from Thursday’s stunning loss to Drury, but found a better feeling at the end of the day Saturday as it posted a 69-55 Great Lakes Valley Conference win over Rockhurst at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

Tamara McCaskill, the only Lady Miner to play at least 30 minutes in Saturday’s game, scored 21 points with eight rebounds to get S&T back into the win column after back-to-back losses. The victory also improved the Lady Miners to 16-4 overall and 10-3 in the GLVC, keeping them one game behind Drury and one ahead of Quincy heading into Thursday’s home game with QU.

McCaskill, who had just six points at halftime, took off in the second half as S&T turned an eight-point game at halftime into a 17-point game in less than five minutes. She scored 11 points during that opening stretch of the second half and her three-point play with 15:27 to go in the half gave the Lady Miners a 48-31 lead.

Rockhurst never got closer than 13 after that point.

The Lady Miners had a bit of a slow start Saturday, turning the ball over five times in the first five minutes and finding themselves tied at the 14:39 mark. S&T then went on a 18-8 run over the next six minutes to go up 25-15 on Katie McElrath’s jumper.

S&T would hold a double figure lead for most of what was left of the half, although the Hawks were able to draw to within eight with a minute left after Julie Cook’s three-pointer.

But by making six of their first eight shots of the second half, the Lady Miners were able to seize control of the affair and allow them to use their bench a little more liberally in the latter stages of the second half.

Besides the 21 points posted by McCaskill, S&T also got 15 from Chism McEntire on five three-pointers and 12 from McElrath. The Lady Miners hit 49.1 percent of their shots and held the Hawks to 34.4 percent shooting, while winning the battle on the boards by a 43-28 margin.

Missouri S&T will face Quincy at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.