UMSL graduate senior Alex LaPorta hit what proved to be the game-winning shot in Tritons’ 53-51 GLVC Tournament quarterfinal win over UIS on Friday. (Photo courtesy: UMSL Athletics)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
UIS	11	15	10	15	51
UMSL	12	13	14	14	53

by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

EDWARDSVILLE, IL — They say the theme of March is survive and advance.

It doesn’t matter how a team wins, they just need to somehow manage to get it done and advance to the next round.

And that’s exactly what happened for the University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s basketball team, Friday afternoon at SIUE’s First Community Arena, in a quarterfinal game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament against the University of Illinois-Springfield.

The Tritons didn’t play great. But they played well enough to survive and advance, as UMSL outlasted UIS for a 53-51 win, that ended the Prairie Stars’ season, but will send UMSL to the GLVC semifinals on Saturday.

It was a back and forth contest, which feature five ties and 11 lead changes. But the key blow was a clutch three-pointer by UMSL Alex LaPorta that gave the Tritons their final lead with just over a minute left in the game.

UIS had just taken the lead on a pair of free throws by their standout senior, and 2022 GLVC Defensive Player of the Year, Lauren Ladowski, with 1:35 left in the game.

UMSL came down court and tried to set up its offense, but the Prairie Stars weren’t allowing it, and it forced the Tritons to look for a desperate shot as the shot clock was near running out.

That’s when LaPorta stepped up and calmly drilled a three from the left wing, that gave UMSL a 53-51 lead with 1:07 left. The huge bucket was LaPorta’s first of the second half, and her first since a jumper she hit early in the second quarter.

She had missed six shots in a row in between. But in what was perhaps the biggest moment of the season, the graduate senior from Highland, Ill., came up huge for her club.

UIS had several chances to perhaps tie or take the lead in the final minute. But UMSL’s defense denied the Prairie Stars each time, as it forced one turnover and three missed shots, including a desperation attempt in the final seconds by Liz Uhl that barely hit the rim as time ran out.

UMSL junior Kiara Stewart had a huge night for the Tritons as well. She finished with game-high totals of 18 points and 13 rebounds, while teammate Jalysa Stokes came off the bench to add 17 points to help lead the Triton.

The victory lifted UMSL’s overall record to 23-4, and set the Tritons up for a GLVC semifinal round showdown with preseason conference championship favorite Drury.

The Lady Panthers are 29-4 on the season, with one of those wins being a 75-65 victory over the Tritons when the teams met back on February 4.

Saturday’s semifinal game will tipoff at First Community Arena at 2:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to Sunday’s GLVC Tournament championship game against either top-seeded Southern Indiana or No. 5 seed Lewis.

Illinois-Springfield 51

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
01	Lauren Ladowski	*	40	5-9	1-1	4-4	1-3	4	2	2	3	0	0	15
10	Malea Jackson	*	35	5-14	0-1	4-4	2-7	9	1	0	0	0	1	14
21	Ally Gietzel	*	35	4-9	0-0	2-2	0-7	7	3	0	2	0	0	10
22	Ellie Mitchell	*	19	3-9	0-1	0-0	1-2	3	2	0	1	0	1	6
04	Olivia Travis	*	22	1-2	0-0	1-1	1-2	3	2	0	0	1	0	3
33	Jalyn Harris		18	1-3	0-0	1-2	2-4	6	4	0	1	1	0	3
32	Liz Uhl		16	0-3	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
05	Olivia Stephens		15	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-3	4	1	0	3	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	0	0	1	0	0	0
	TOTALS	–	200	19-49	1-5	12-13	8-30	38	15	2	11	2	2	51

Missouri-St. Louis 53

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
24	Kiara Stewart	*	34	9-14	0-0	0-2	3-10	13	3	1	1	1	0	18
11	Alex LaPorta	*	40	2-8	1-2	2-4	3-7	10	0	5	1	1	2	7
10	Mallory Ronshausen	*	33	2-8	1-4	2-2	0-0	0	2	2	0	0	2	7
23	Faye Meissner	*	38	1-7	0-2	2-3	0-2	2	3	2	0	0	0	4
20	Danielle Berry	*	15	0-3	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	3	1	1	0	0	0
04	Jalysa Stokes		33	6-12	4-5	1-2	1-1	2	1	1	2	1	2	17
22	Shania Liburd		4	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	Taylor Thompson		2	0-2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
21	Adriana Plavsic		1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
	TOTALS	–	200	20-55	6-14	7-13	8-22	30	13	12	6	3	6	53