Chism McEntire

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Missouri S&T had a tough time throwing the knockout punch in the second half, but another solid shooting night was more than enough to send it home for an opening round game in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

The Lady Miners knocked off Southern Indiana 71-61 in PAC Arena Thursday night to tie the S&T single season record for wins and more importantly, lock up a home game Tuesday night in the first round of the conference tournament.

S&T (21-5, 15-4 GLVC) will play the third place team from the GLVC East Division -- which will be determined after league play is completed Saturday -- at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

After Southern Indiana got out to an early lead, the Lady Miners ran off seven straight points near the midway point of the first half and grabbed their first advantage in the process on Katie Bunge’s lay-in at the 10:51 mark. S&T eventually built its lead to as many as 10 points before the Eagles closed to within three at 32-29 at the intermission.

But any hope USI -- a team that had already been eliminated from the GLVC playoff race -- had of pulling off an upset was put in jeopardy right out of the gate when the second half began. The Lady Miners scored the first 11 points of the half, which included a pair of three-pointers from Chism McEntire, to give them a 14-point lead in the first four minutes of the period.

The Eagles got the lead down to five on a layup by Jasmine Baines with 6:23 to play, but eventually S&T got the lead back over 10 when Tamara McCaskill made a steal to lead to a three-point play with 2:43 remaining for a 65-54 lead.

The Lady Miners shot 58.7 percent from the field in the game -- their fifth game in the last six in which they have made at least 50 percent of their shots -- and got 18 points apiece from McEntire and McCaskill. In addition, Bunge recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

S&T was 6-of-13 from three-point range, with McEntire connecting four times in five tries.

The 21 wins the Lady Miners have accumulated this season ties the mark set by the 1995-96 team that finished at 21-7.