Rolla, Missouri - The S&T Lady Miners Basketball Team is ecstatic about their latest win on January 19th in Rolla against the Prairie Stars from Springfield, Illinois. It was a tough game to play but the Lady Miners refused to back down from the fight. The Lady Miners has a winning season this far with 8-5, including the win that they recently took from the Quincy University Hawks on Thursday, January 17th.
Katelyn Heil (#15), is a senior at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla this year and has been on the basketball team for the past three years. She has been a big part of the Lady Miners and their team throughout her collegiate basketball career but will be graduating in the spring. Heil is a graduate from Dexter High School and even though she is hours away from her hometown, she still has a large number of fans rooting for her that are from the bootheel.
In the basketball game against the Prairie Stars last Saturday, the Lady Miners struggled against their rivals as the Prairie Stars hit six three pointers in a row, quickly catching up to the eight out of nine shots that the Lady Miners had made when the game first started. The Lady Miners only led by six but the Prairie Stars quickly stole the lead with a free throw and barely held on, leaving the score at 29 to 28.
The Lady Miners quickly stole the lead as the next quarter began as a new play started. They pulled together and had a score of 33 to 31. The Prairie Stars missed their chance to catch up to the Lady Miners but failed when the ball was turned over, allowing a Lady Miner to snatch the ball and sink a free throw, keeping the lead and creating a bigger point gap with a score of 36 to 31.
The Prairie Stars made 44% of their shots in the first half of the game while the Lady Miners made 54%. As the second half began, the Lady Miners scored one point towards their lead but missed two layups and quickly lost their chance to jump even farther ahead of their components. Three minutes into the third quarter, the Lady Miners lost their lead as the Prairie Stars scored five points, pushing the score to 37 to 36. The Lady Miners managed to make two layups and began to create a small gap between them and the Prairie stars but their competition was never far behind. The Prairie Stars were only behind by four points after the Lady Miners sunk another free throw.
It only took the Lady Miners six minutes to create a twenty-point gap between them and the Prairie Stars. It was overall the biggest lead of the night with a score of 69 to 49. The Prairie Stars continued to play hard but could not quite catch up to the Lady Miners who made 50% of their shots during the second half of the game. In the end, the Lady Miners took the win, adding another victory to their season with a total of nine wins. Katelyn Heil scored a total of three points during the game against UIS Prairie Stars and had an average of 4.4.
The Lady Miners are now headed to St. Louis on Thursday to play against the University of Missouri St. Louis Tritons. The team will be spending the weekend in St. Louis where they will prepare for their next game on Saturday, January 26th, where they will compete against the Maryville University Saints. The Lady Miners and Heil are excited for this weekend and hope to play hard against both opponents and keep up their winning streak.
