The Lincoln women's basketball team worked the ball inside on its first three possessions, resulting in six points.
It looked easy enough through the first 80 seconds of the game. Then it became much tougher to score inside in the next 38-plus minutes.
Missouri S&T shot 59 percent from the floor in the second half, turning a close battle into a 72-57 win Tuesday night at Jason Gym in the Blue Tigers' home opener.
"I felt pretty good about it," Lincoln coach Ayana McWilliams said of the Blue Tigers' quick start. "Sometimes the offense goes, but we have to defend. I don't feel like we defended like we should have for 40 minutes."
Lajanea Kimbrough scored four seconds after the opening tip and then drove for an easy layup on Lincoln's next possession. The Blue Tigers' 4-0 advantage 37 seconds in was their biggest lead all game.
The inside shots fell with less frequency as the game moved along, but that didn't mean Lincoln stopped trying to score inside. McWilliams and the Blue Tigers grew frustrated as numerous drives to the basket in the second half didn't result in foul calls.
The Blue Tigers didn't shoot their first free throw of the game until Faith Brintle hit both attempts from the line with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter. By then the Miners had already shot 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.
"They shot 24 free throws to our eight attempts," McWilliams said. "Most of those eight attempts came late in the final quarter on little touch fouls. But I won't harp on that.
"We just didn't come out in the second half the same way we defended in the first half. This was a high-powered offensive team coming in, so we knew we had to be disciplined, and I didn't feel like we were disciplined down the stretch."
Missouri S&T finished 18-of-24 from the line, while Lincoln was 6-of-8 at the line.
Karissa Black's 3-pointer with 3:25 to go in the first quarter pushed Lincoln's early lead to 13-9. The Miners answered with a pair of threes to lead 15-13 after one quarter.
Lincoln would never lead again in the contest, but the Blue Tigers tied the game at 25 on Alecia Kaelke's shot in the lane with 4:21 to play in the first half.
Robin Butler put up a 3-point attempt as the buzzer sounded. Had it gone it, Lincoln would've headed into the locker room with a 1-point instead. Instead, the shot was off the mark and Missouri S&T led 29-27 at halftime.
Lincoln battled early foul trouble in the second quarter. Bri Coleman had three fouls and Kimbrough and Citlali Lopez each had two fouls with seven minutes to go before halftime.
"The people coming off the bench have to be ready," McWilliams said. "I tell them all they time, you have to be ready when your number's called."
Missouri S&T began pulling away when it closed the third quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 52-37. The Miners led by as many as 20 points (66-46) with 3:26 to play in the game.
"I think we were a little complacent coming out (in the second half)," McWilliams said. "They're a high-powered team and we held them to 29 points in the first half. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves."
Lincoln had 10 players in the scoring column, but only one reached double figures. Lopez had a team-high 12 points, scoring 10 by halftime. Kimbrough and Butler each added eight points.
Butler also had a team-high nine rebounds. Through three games, Lincoln has outrebounded opponents 107-104. Last season, opponents were averaging 12 more rebounds per game than the Blue Tigers.
"I feel like we've been doing a pretty good job on the boards," McWilliams said. "I wish we were a little bit better (rebounding), but every day, you just have to keep grinding and keep going."
Michelle Borgen and Maddie Raley each had 15 points to lead Missouri S&T (3-0), which finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field.
Lincoln (1-2) plays an exhibition game at 7 p.m. today at NCAA Division I Bradley.