Coach Katie Vaughn and members of the UMSL women’s basketball team celebrate after clinching the first Great Lakes Valley Conference regular-season championship in program history with an 82-37 victory over William Jewell on Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Sophie Lodes/UMSL Athletics)

Women’s Basketball
The No. 24 University of Missouri–St. Louis women’s basketball team locked up its first Great Lakes Valley Conference regular-season championship in program history after beating Truman State and William Jewell last week at the Mark Twain Athletic Center. Coach Katie Vaughn’s team blitzed the Bulldogs 64-47 in Thursday’s homecoming win and routed the Cardinals 82-37, running its winning streak to six games. Mara Rieder led the way in both games, scoring 20 points and grabbing 15 rebounds against Truman State and tallying 26 points and 11 rebounds against William Jewell. Rieder leads the GLVC in scoring, is second in rebounding and now has 14 double-doubles on the season. Morgan Ramthun also posted back-to-back double-doubles last week with 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Bulldogs and 22 points and 11 rebounds against the Cardinals. Jayden Kuper and Anna Costa Riera also finished in double figures against William Jewell with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Kuper also had 17 rebounds. UMSL held both opponents under 36% shooting with the Cardinals making only 26.3% of their attempts. The Tritons will be the top seed when they host the GLVC Tournament, which is scheduled to begin on March 5 at the Mark Twain Athletic Center. But UMSL (22-3, 18-1 GLVC) will first wrap up the regular-season schedule at Drury on Thursday.

Men’s Basketball
The Tritons heads into the final week needing help to onto the final spot in the GLVC Tournament after splitting games against Truman State and William Jewell last week at the Mark Twain Athletic Center. UMSL fell to the Bulldogs 79-75 in last Thursday’s homecoming game at the Mark Twain Athletic Center in a loss that left Truman State with the inside track to the final spot in the eight-team tournament field based on the league’s point rating system. The Bulldogs grabbed the upper hand in Thursday’s game with a 12-2 run in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half after the two teams were tied at 36 at intermission. UMSL wound up trailing by as many as 11 points after the break. They put together a 7-0 run late to get as close as 72-70 with 1:48 remaining, but the Bulldogs held off the rally. Taye Moore led five UMSL players in double figures with 15 points in the loss. Miles Boland had 14, Jake Hamilton added 13, Vincent Davis III scored 11, and Demetris Phillips finished with 10. UMSL missed 10 of 26 free throws while Truman State connected on 24 of its 27 attempts. The Tritons rebounded to beat William Jewell 76-55 on Saturday. Moore scored a game-high 23 points, Phillips had 17 off the bench, and Boland finished with 13 points. UMSL held the Cardinals to 32.7% shooting from the field, including 8-for-26 shooting from 3-point range. UMSL (16-12, 10-9 GLVC) must win its final regular-season game at Drury on Thursday at the O’Reilly Family Events Center in Springfield, Missouri, but it also needs Truman State to lose its final two games Indianapolis and William Jewell.

Women’s Golf
UMSL opened its spring season by finishing in a tie for seventh in a field of 15 teams at the Southern Invitational, hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma at Cypresswood Golf Club in Spring, Texas. The Tritons posted a combined score of 918 to finish 36 shots behind tournament winner University Texas at Tyler. Hillary Currier led the Tritons with a 54-hole total of 226 to finish in a tie for 14th. Teammate Wilma Zanderau was one shot back of Currier in a tie for 16th. Mayan Covarrubias and Emmy Wahl both tied for 45th with scores of 235, and Josefin Hansson rounded up the lineup with a total of 242. UT-Tyler’s Lucy Kate Smith was the individual medalist with a total of 218, defeating runner up Estela Castillo of Central Oklahoma by two shots. The Tritons will next compete as the host of the Emerald Coast Classic, March 8-10 at Sandestin-Baytowne Golf Club in Destin, Florida.

Baseball
The Tritons went 1-2 in a weekend series against Illinois Springfield. They split Friday’s doubleheader with the Prairie Stars, losing 16-4 in seven innings in the opening game before bouncing back to take the second game 7-6 in 10 innings at CarShield Field in O’Fallon, Missouri. UMSL then lost 19-10 against Illinois Springfield on Saturday in Springfield, Illinois. The second game of Saturday’s scheduled doubleheader was postponed and will be made up later in the season. Brandon Johnson drove in the game-winning run in the 10th inning of Friday’s victory, part of a two-hit day by the UMSL second baseman, as the Tritons rallied from a 6-5 deficit in the final half inning. He finished with four hits on the weekend. Justin Terhaar drove in three runs in the win, and he had four hits and four RBI in the three games. Garrett Strenger had five hits in the series, including a four-hit day and three RBI in Saturday’s loss. Cade Grevengoed had three hits, including a home run in Friday’s loss. The Tritons (4-7) will play host to Missouri S&T in its first home game of the season on Wednesday at the UMSL Baseball Field. It is team’s only scheduled game until March 4 against Davenport.

Softball
UMSL went 0-4 in doubleheaders against Missouri Southern State and Pittsburg State over the weekend in games that were part of the MIAA/GLVC Crossover. The Tritons lost 11-5 and 10-3 against the Lions on Friday in Joplin, Missouri, before getting swept by the Gorillas 23-0 and 4-3 on Saturday in Pittsburg, Kansas. UMSL carried a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning of Saturday’s second game, but Lexi Davis hit a three-run home run to lift Pittsburg State into the lead. Freshman Kiley Sullivan had three hits, including her first career home run, and drove in two runs in the loss. She finished with four hits and three RBI on the weekend. May Pasqualini had three hits, including a pair of doubles, and scored five runs in the four games. The Tritons (4-9) will be looking to snap a six-game losing streak when it plays in next weekend’s Oasis Division II Collegiate Classic in Marion, Illinois. UMSL will open play against Purdue Northwest and Grand Valley State on Friday..