The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) women's basketball team shut down the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) in a 68-58 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) victory on Thursday at TRAC.
 
UIS (5-7, 2-2) once against utilized its transition offense, outscoring the Tritons (7-7, 1-4) by a 20-8 margin on fast-break points.
 
After trailing UMSL 7-4 with 6 minutes, 4 seconds left in the first quarter, UIS closed out the quarter on an 11-0 run. The Prairie Stars took their 15-7 lead after Val Meissner capped off the run with a four-point play.
 
UIS built a 28-16 lead with 2:56 left in the second quarter, but UMSL knocked down three 3-pointers to end the second quarter on a 9-0 run. Laura Szorenyi drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut UIS's advantage to 28-25.
 
UIS took control of the game in the third quarter by opening with an 8-0 run to extend its lead to 36-25. The Prairie Stars led the Tritons 43-33 after three quarters.
 
The offense increased drastically in the fourth quarter as both teams scored 25 points. UMSL trimmed its deficit to 62-56 with 27 seconds remaining with the help of full-court pressure defense. The Tritons were unable to overcome their deficit or UIS's free-throw shooting.  UIS knocked down 24-of-26 (92.3 percent) shots from the free-throw line during the game, including 17-of-18 (94.4 percent) shots from the charity stripe during the fourth quarter. UMSL hit just 6-of-12 (50 percent) attempts from the charity stripe. The Prairie Stars currently lead the conference with a .779 free-throw percentage.
 
After the Tritons scored 82 points on the Prairie Stars in December, the Prairie Stars handed the Tritons scoreless droughts of 6:50, 4:52 and 2:52.
 
Lauren Ladowski led the Prairie Stars with 19 points and three steals. Val Meissner contributed 16 points while Jasmine Sangster delivered 14 points. Tehya Fortune provided five points and four assists. Lanie Hicks scored four points. Gabrielle Sanders and Brianna Mefford turned in three points each while Ellie Mitchell and Katelyn Rosner rounded out the UIS scoring effort with two points. Mefford pulled down eight rebounds while Rosner blocked two shots.
 
Alex LaPorta recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Tritons. She also paced the Tritons with five assists. Kiara Stewart collected a team-high 11 rebounds. Szorenyi notched 13 points while Faye Meissner tallied 12 points and three steals. Arielle Jackson also came up with two blocks.
 
The Prairie Stars were able to capitalize on Triton turnovers. UMSL committed 21 turnovers while UIS turned the ball over 17 times.
 
UMSL drained 23-of-59 (39.0 percent) attempts from the field and 6-of-20 (30 percent) shots from 3-point range UIS converted 20-of-54 (37.0 percent) shots from the floor and 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) attempts from the perimeter.
 
UMSL outrebounded UIS 35-34.
 
The Prairie Stars battle Maryville University (9-5, 3-2) in conference play on Saturday at 1 p.m. in TRAC.