Senior center Kiara Stewart averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds last week as the women’s basketball team split road games against William Jewell and Truman State. (Photo by Luke Rinne)
Women’s Basketball
The University of Missouri–St. Louis overcame a six-point fourth-quarter deficit Thursday night in a 57-54 victory over William Jewell in Liberty, Missouri, and narrowly missed pulling out another road victory in a 72-71 loss on Saturday at Truman State. Morgan Ramthun‘s three-point play sparked a 16-7 finishing charge over the final 8:31 in the win over the Cardinals. Ramthun finished with a team-high 14 points. Kiara Stewart added 13 points and 15 rebounds, and Jalysa Stokes had 10 points, including a driving layup that extended UMSL’s lead to 57-54 with 31 seconds remaining. William Jewell missed a 3-pointer that would’ve tied it with a second remaining, giving the Tritons their fifth road win of the season. UMSL came of short of securing a sixth despite fighting back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit briefly taking a 71-70 lead on Stokes’ 5-footer with 5.6 seconds remaining. She and Ramthun both finished with 18 points. Truman State’s Hannah Belanger got fouled on a driving layup attempt with 2.1 seconds remaining and made two free throws to put the Bulldogs ahead 72-71. She finished with a game-high 21 points. The Tritons weren’t able to get off a shot before the buzzer. UMSL (8-11, 6-7 Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play host to Southwest Baptist on Thursday and Rockhurst on Saturday.
Men’s Basketball
The 19th-ranked Tritons split a pair of road games last week, knocking off William Jewell 62-56 on Thursday in Liberty, Missouri, and falling to Truman State 69-62 on Saturday in Kirksville, Missouri. UMSL overcame a 39.3% shooting and a six-point second-half deficit against the Cardinals. The Tritons used a 13-3 run to pull in front in the final 10 minutes and then closed the game on a 13-7 surge in the last 3:24. Isaiah Fuller scored a game-high 21 points and was the only UMSL player in double figures. UMSL fought back from an 11-point first-half deficit and was even at intermission. The Tritons managed to hang around within four points until the final minute despite shooting only 31% from the field . But CE Talton put the game away with five of his eight points in the final 30 seconds for the Bulldogs. Victor Nwagbaraocha finished with a game-high 17 points, and Matt Enright added 14 in the loss. UMSL (17-4, 9-4 GLVC) returns home this week to face Southwest Baptist on Thursday and Rockhurst on Saturday.
Men’s and Women’s Track
The UMSL track and field teams posted 12 top-10 finishes at the Principia Relays, run Friday and Saturday in Elsah, Illinois. The men’s team took first in the distance medley relay with the team of Toby Middleton, Michael Wright, Gavin Love and Benjamin VandenBrink combining to post a time of 10 minutes, 29.69 seconds. Two women’s relay teams place in the top three with a Lily Wagemann, Ella Tynan, Kennedy Moore and Kayley Heeter taking second in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 10:44.87 and the same quartet placing third in the distance medley relay with a time of 13:47.92. Dominica Rooks finished with in the 500 meets and 10th in the 200 with times of 1:25.74 and 28.40. Moore was fifth in the 200, clocking in at 28.04 seconds. Matthias Shelp finished sixth in the 3,000 meters at 9:36.04, Wagemann and Heeter finished seventh and eighth in the mile with times of 5:39.93 and 5:41.28 respectively, and Peyton Brueck took ninth in the 3,000 meters in a time of 12:18.82. Haeley Johnson had an eight place finish in the long jump, leaping 15 feet, 2.75 inches; and she was also 10th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.31 seconds. The Tritons compete against next Friday when they travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the Friday Night Spikes Meet hosted by Rose-Hulman.
