ROLLA – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners broke open a tight game at the break with a 9-2 run to start the second half en route to breaking a two game skid 68-54 on Thursday evening in Rolla. Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) matched her career-high with 20 points while Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) dropped in 16.

The opening frame was a game of runs as the two sides proceeded to trade leads through most of the half. Rockhurst (4-13, 2-8 GLVC) took its first lead of the contest on a three from Shelby Geiman at the 12:42 mark. S&T (12-5, 7-3 GLVC) responded with a layup from Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) and a three-pointer from Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) to regain and push the lead to five points by the 11:02 mark.

The Hawks responded with five straight of their own to regain the advantage. Susan Hohenadel knocked home a three and Chrissy Sarcone hit a jumper during that span.

Parks put the Lady Miners back ahead with a jumper at the 7:30 mark, but Rockhurst ran off the next seven points to take its biggest lead of the night at 21-15. Megan Cook started the run with a pair of free throws then Melanie Siscos and Katye Nash knocked home back-to-back threes.

S&T responded with 11 straight of its own to regain their five-point cushion. Karli Sample (St. Joseph, Mo./Benton) started the run with a three off an inbounds play. After a Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La.) layup made it a one-point game, Sample gave the Lady Miners the lead for good with a layup. Hall added two more on a pair of free throws and Parks capped it off with a fast break layup with 2:28 to play in the stanza.

The Hawks refused to yield as Taylor Skala converted on a fast break chance to make it 26-23. Skala committed a foul on the ensuing play sending Meyer to the line where she knocked down both free throws pushing it back to five.

Rockhurst wrapped a pair of three's from MaKayla Grahn and Geiman around a Parks bucket cutting S&T's lead to 30-29 at the intermission.

The Lady Miners shot the ball well in the opening frame knocking down 12-for-23 (52 percent), but turned it over 12 times. They were 2-of-4 from downtown and 4-for-7 at the foul line. Parks had 12 in the frame while Sample added five and Meyer and Hall dropped in four apiece.

The Hawks stayed in the contest thanks to their three-point shooting knocking home 5-of-9 (56 percent). As a whole they shot just 38 percent (11-for-29) and were just 2-of-5 at the foul line. Geiman and Sarcone had six apiece to lead Rockhurst.

S&T started the second half strong as Meyer keyed the charge scoring seven of the first nine points including the first five to open the frame. She started it on the defensive end rebounding a missed shot and streaked ahead to score on the break and was fouled for the old-fashioned three-point play. On the next possession she got a steal and scored on the break again to make it 35-29 less than two minutes into the stanza.

Rockhurst cut it to four but Parks and Meyer scored back-to-back baskets to make it an eight point contest. The Hawks to their credit continued to hang around cutting it down to four with 11:02 to play.

The Lady Miners put the game away over the next six minutes scoring 10 of 14 points in building a double digit advantage. Rockhurst got as close as nine with 4:29 to play, but S&T was solid at the foul line down the stretch building its largest lead of the night at 65-50 on a bucket by Hall with 1:38 to go. Meyer matched that lead with a pair of free throws a minute later.

The Lady Miners shot only 44 percent in the second half but were 17-for-21 at the foul line in the stanza. They finished the contest shooting 48 percent (22-for-46) from the field and went 21-of-28 (75 percent) at the charity stripe.

S&T held the Hawks to just 40 percent (21-for-53) shooting for the night. The Lady Miners held a 36-27 edge on the boards and outscored Rockhurst 32-18 in points in the paint.

Sarcone was the lone Hawk player in double figures with 10. Geiman added eight off the bench while Skala chipped in with seven as well.

S&T returns to action on Saturday afternoon traveling up to Liberty, Mo., to take on GLVC newcomer William Jewell beginning at 1 p.m.