OWENSBORO, KY – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners found its groove on the offensive end and were able to cruise past Kentucky Wesleyan 74-58 on Saturday afternoon in Owensboro, Ky. Hailee Parks continued her strong play on the weekend scoring a game-high 24 points and had nine rebounds.

S&T (10-2, 5-0 GLVC) scored the first basket of the game on a layup by Quintonia Evans 0:15 into the contest. Kentucky Wesleyan (8-4, 2-2 GLVC) answered back with a pair of free throws from Bianca Barton for the only tie of the contest on the ensuing possession.

Julie Meyer gave the Lady Miners a lead they wouldn’t relinquish with a jumper at the 16:56 mark. After a Parks jumper made it 6-2, Lauren Goffinet brought the Panthers within one with a three. That would be the closest they got the rest of the way.

S&T made 7 of its first 8 shots on its way to 21-9 lead at about the midway point of the opening frame. The lead grew to 27-15 on a layup by Evans at the 4:50 mark.

KWC trimmed the deficit in half with six straight over a three-minute stretch, but Katelyn Heil scored on a fast break layup and Kyesha Hall buried a triple right before the half to send the Lady Miners into the break with a 32-23 lead.

S&T shot 61 percent (14-23) from the field in the opening half and outrebounded the Panthers by a 22-10 margin. Parks and Evans combined for 19 of the team’s 32 points.

KWC struggled to make shots going 9-of-30 (30 percent) from the field. It stayed in the game thanks to making all four of its free throws. T’Essence Phelps had six points while Goffinet dropped in five.

S&T opened the second half on a 17-8 run in the first nine minutes to build an 18 point advantage. The lead grew to its largest of the contest at 56-34 on a three from Toni Knar with 8:21 to play. The Panthers tried to rally late but the Lady Miners made their last eight free throw attempts and shot 88 percent (15-17) at the foul line in the second half.

They outscored KWC 40-28 in the paint and had an advantage of 18 on the glass 41-23.

Parks and Evans were the only two S&T players in double figures. Evans had a career-high 13 points to go along with her seven rebounds. Karli Sample added nine off the bench while Senait McLeod, Courtney Kemp and Toni Knar had five each.

Dexter, Mo., native Katelyn Heil chipped in four points in the victory.

The Lady Miners finished the contest shooting 54 percent (27-for-50) from the floor and were 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) at the foul line. The Panthers shot just 34.4 percent (21-for-61) from the field but were a perfect 11-of-11 at the foul line.

Barton had 10 to lead KWC while Phelps dropped in nine. Katie Behrens and Goffinet added eight apiece.

S&T returns home next Thursday to take on Northern Kentucky beginning at 5:30 p.m.