Box Score (Winter Park, Fla.) – It was a bittersweet day for Missouri S&T's Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) as she scored her 1,000^th career point, but the Lady Miners fell to the fourth ranked Rollins Tars 65-58 on Saturday afternoon at Warden Arena in Winter Park, Fla. Parks finished with a team-high 19 points and became just the seventh player in school history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for her career.

S&T (1-3) got off to another fast start racing out to a 13-6 lead on a Parks layup midway through the first half. Rollins took a timeout after that layup and scored seven straight to tie it. Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) answered with a layup to put the Lady Miners back on top, but Ashley Jones hit a three to give the Tars a 16-15 lead. Dajae Williams (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) answered on the other end with a three in front of the Rollins bench, but Jones answered back to give the Tars a 19-18 lead with 7:41 to play in the opening frame.

Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) countered with her second trey of the half to give the Lady Miners their last lead of the game at the 7:20 mark. Rollins then held S&T scoreless for over five minutes and used an 11-0 run to take its largest lead of the half at 30-21 with less than two minutes to play in the stanza. Jasmine Cohen and Sarah Taylor combined for nine of those points. The Lady Miners would cut the lead to 30-25 on a jumper from Knar, but Jones hit her fourth three of the half to put the Tars up 33-25 with under a minute to play. Knar cut the lead back to five hitting her third trifecta of the frame to send S&T into the intermission down 33-28.

The Lady Miners shot 54.5 percent (12-for-22) from the floor and was 4-of-8 from downtown. Knar had 11 to lead S&T while Parks dropped in eight.

Rollins was 14-for-30 (46.7 percent) in the opening half and 5-of-10 from downtown. Jones led all scorers with 14 points in the frame.
Jones scored the first bucket of the second half to extend the Tars lead to 35-28. The Lady Miners though scored six straight to cut the lead to 35-34 on a jumper by Taylor Jensen (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) with 16:12 left in the contest. Rollins extended the lead back to six on a layup by Tera McDaniel and another three from Jones to make it 40-34. S&T tied the game with an 8-2 run as Parks and McLeod each had three points in the run. The Lady Miners had a great chance to retake the lead as Erica Askew (Chicago, Ill./Morgan Park) had a wide open three in front of the S&T bench rolled around the rim and out. 

Rollins would capitalize on the missed opportunity scoring 10 of the next 11 points to build a 52-43 lead with 8:55 left. Taylor and Jones each hit a big three in the run. The game would remain around a nine point margin for the next four minutes as the Lady Miners went through a cold stretch on the offensive end.

S&T trailed 59-49 with less than four minutes to play, but scored seven straight points in 1:11 to close to within 59-56 on a three from Knar. The Tars got two free throws from McDaniel and a jumper by Ashley Losch to push the lead back to seven. Parks countered on the other end with a layup to make it 63-58, but the Lady Miners wouldn't get any closer than that.

S&T shot 52 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 53.2 percent (25-for-47) from the field. It was 6-of-16 from downtown, but only 2-for-8 in the second half. It was also 2-of-7 at the foul line. Parks and Knar were the only Lady Miners in double figures with 19 and 15 respectively.

Rollins shot 44 percent in the second half and finished the contest making 26-for-57 (46 percent) from the field. The Tars made eight of its 16 three-point attempts. They were led by Jones with 24 points and Sarah Blackburn dropped in 11.

S&T is back at home next Thursday when it hosts Westminster beginning at 5:30 p.m.