Box Score (Winter Park, Fla.) – Missouri S&T's 75-64 loss to Charleston in the Rollins Thanksgiving Classic on Friday centered around one thing, the three-point line. The Golden Eagles shot 46 percent (13-for-28) from downtown while S&T was just 2-of-15 (13 percent). The Lady Miners (1-2) hit their first attempt beyond the arc before missing their next 11. UC (2-0) had an advantage of plus 33 points from distance.

S&T came out firing out as it knocked down its first eight shots of the contest and held its largest lead of the contest after a three by Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) at 17-8 just over five minutes into the game. Charleston began to battle back and got to within two points a couple of times. The Lady Miners were able to hold them off and led 27-21 with 8:45 left in the opening half after a jumper by Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef). The Golden Eagles took their first lead since early in the contest thanks to an 11-0 run spanning nearly four minutes. Chelsea Chambers started the run with four straight points. Chrissy Keir hit a three with exactly five minutes left in the frame to give UC a 32-27 advantage.

Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) answered with a layup to pull S&T back to within three, but Kali Cuttaia added a layup on the other end to push the advantage back to five. Parks and Leigh-Ann Kesper (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) then hit back-to-back layups to pull the Lady Miners within 34-33 with 3:01 to play in the half. LeAnne Ross though would score five straight points to extend the Golden Eagle lead to its largest of the half at 39-33 with less than two minutes to play. Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La./) sandwiched a pair of jumpers around a Jessi Cowden layup to send S&T into the locker room trailing 41-37 at the break.

Both teams shot the ball well in the opening 20 minutes. S&T was 18-for-37 (49 percent) from the field, but made only one three and missed all five of its free throws. Parks had 16 points and six rebounds to lead the charge for the Lady Miners. Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La./) dropped in eight points as well.

Charleston shot 50 percent from the field (15-for-30), was 7-of-14 from downtown and made all four of its free throw attempts. Ross had eight points of the bench to lead the Golden Eagles. Cowden and Chelsea Brumby each added seven points.

S&T tied the game just over a minute into the second half behind four straight points from Parks. The two teams would then begin exchanging baskets over the next two minutes. The game was tied at 45 when UC scored five straight points to take the lead for good. The Lady Miners continued to hang in and had a chance to tie it when McLeod stole a pass and was all alone in the frontcourt, but she lost control of it and S&T didn't get anything out of the possession.

That missed chance proved costly as the Golden Eagles went down on the next trip and got a three from Ross to make it 53-48. A bucket on the break from Tianni Kelly gave Charleston a 55-48 lead with 11:38 to play.

The Lady Miners had their chances to cut into the lead as Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) and Parks each went to the line for two shot fouls, but they each went 1-for-2 and only trimmed two points off the deficit. Heil added a layup with 8:22 to play to make it 55-52. That would be the closest S&T would get though as the Golden Eagles scored nine of the next 13 points to take a 64-56 exactly two minutes after Heil's bucket.

The Lady Miners would cut it to six on a layup by Kylie Cooper (Andover, Kan./Andover), but seven straight points from Charleston ended any thoughts of a comeback. The crushing blow was a three from Nichole Perry which made it 71-58 with 3:23 to play. That three gave UC its largest lead of the game.

Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) finally snapped S&T's dry spell from long range with a three to make it 71-61 0:15 later, but it was too little, too late. The Golden Eagles scored four of the last seven points to end the contest.

The Lady Miners shot 44 percent (11-for-25) from the field in the second half and finished the game making 29 of their 62 attempts (46.8 percent). They made only four of its 14 free throws and were led in scoring by Parks, who matched her career-high, with 26. Knar chipped in with nine while Cooper and Hall added eight apiece. Parks also had a game-high 12 rebounds.

S&T finished the game outrebounding UC by a 42-to-26 margin and had a 21-4 edge in second chance points. The Lady Miners also had 22 assists led by Cooper, Hall and Taylor Jensen (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) with five apiece; however, S&T turned the ball over 18 times resulting in 23 points for the Golden Eagles.

Charleston shot 49 percent (28-for-57) from the field for the game and was 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) in the second half. It was 6-for-14 (43 percent) shooting the three in the second stanza. The Golden Eagles were led in scoring by Ross with 13, Cowden added 12, Perry chipped in with 11 and Brumby dropped home 10.

S&T is back in action on Saturday when it takes on the hosts and fourth-ranked team in Division II Rollins College at 12 p.m. (CT). The Tars lost to Tusculum College on Friday 69-55 for their first loss of the season.