ROLLA, MO – The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) women's basketball team capped off the Lady Miner Classic with a 67-66 win over LeMoyne-Owen College on Saturday.
 
UIS (2-0) shut down LeMoyne-Owen (0-2) fate with a defensive stop on the final possession of the game.
 
"I'm very proud of our effort," UIS coach Mark Kost said. "It's a great feeling to win a close game."
 
Both teams participated in an offensive first quarter. The Magicians finished with a 26-23 advantage over the Prairie Stars (2-0) through the first quarter.
 
UIS and LeMoyne-Owen remained within a possession of each other during the first 5 minutes, 58 seconds of the second quarter. Miah Kimbrough knocked down a 3-pointer to take a 42-37 lead. The Magicians built an eight-point lead before entering halftime with a 44-38 advantage
 
UIS took a 46-44 lead after jumping out to an 8-0 run to start the third quarter. Katelyn Rosner hit a pair of baskets while Val Meissner and Shelbi Patterson also added buckets. LeMoyne-Owen responded with an 8-0 run, but the Prairie Stars chipped away and concluded the third quarter deadlocked with the Magicians at 55-all.
 
During the fourth quarter, no team led by more than three points. Tenesha Wright provided a layup that gave the Magicians a 64-62 lead with 2:27 to go in the game. Tehya Fortune split a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one.  Wright made two free throws and Fortune responded with another free throw, cutting LeMoyne-Owen's lead to 66-64 with 46 seconds remaining.
 
On the next possession, Shaynn Nance missed a 3-pointer. Destiny Ramsey rebounded her own jumper, found Patterson on the perimeter and Patterson drained the 3-pointer. The Prairie Stars led the Magicians 67-66 with 17 seconds remaining.
 
With four seconds remaining, Nance missed a layup, but the Magicians maintained possessions. Dana Gettis came up empty on the game-winning 3-pointer and the Prairie Stars secured the victory.
 
"Destiny made a great decision to find Shelbi open and then we made two defensive stops."
 
Five UIS players finished with double-digit point totals. Patterson contributed a team-high 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Ramsey flirted with a triple-double as the 6-foot forward from Bloomington, IL tallied 15 rebounds, 10 points, seven assists and four blocks.
 
Rosner produced 12 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. The 6-foot-2 center from Chicago, IL knocked down 6-of-8 (75 percent) shots from the field. Jasmine Sangster and Fortune each recorded 11 points, Meissner added seven points and Grace Weber rounded out the UIS scoring with two points.
 
Wright led the Magicians with 20 points and 12 rebounds. She hit 9-of-12 (75 percent) attempts from the charity stripe. Gettis posted 16 points and Ty Broadwater blocked three shots.
 
Both teams scored seven points off turnovers. UIS held a 16-to-12 advantage on second-chance points. LeMoyne-Owen outscored UIS 31-to-24 in the paint and held a 7-to-2 advantage on fast-break points.
 
The Magicians outrebounded the Prairie Stars by a 47-to-46 margin. UIS sank 23-of-63 (36.5 percent) shots from the floor and converted 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) attempts from 3-point range. The Magicians made 23-of-72 (31.9 percent) attempts from the floor and hit 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) shots from behind the arc.
 
UIS knocked down 16-of-25 (64 percent) shots from the charity stripe while LeMoyne-Owen made 14-of-21 (66.7 percent) shots from the free-throw line.

Rosner is tied for fifth in UIS Division II history with 27 career blocks.
 
The Prairie Stars get ready for their home opener, where they take on MacMurray College (0-0) on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in TRAC.