The William Jewell women's basketball team pulled within two with just over three minutes to play on Thursday night but dropped their first home contest of the season to Maryville 56-47. The loss drops Jewell to 7-10 overall and 3-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. 

Neither team shot better than 33 percent from the floor in the opening half as Jewell held a slim 19-17 lead at the break.

After the intermission, the Saints went on an early 10-0 run to open a 27-19 advantage. The Cardinals battled back to within four before the Saints again went on a run to extend their lead back to double-digits to close the third quarter. 

In the final eight minutes Maryville began to pull away, holding a nine-point lead with seven minutes to play before Maddie Nelson and Katie Finn combined for six points, aided by free throws from Lindsey McCoy and Chris Keys to pull the Cardinals to within 44-42. 

With under a minute to play and trailing by six, Jewell was forced to foul and Saint sophomore Mary Barton hit 7-8 free throws to put the game away 56-47. 

The Cardinals suffered from another dismal shooting performance, finishing with a mark of 29 percent compared to a 44 percent clip by the Saints. Finn posted a team-high 15 points while Nelson added 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Jewell will be back in the Mabee Center on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. as they take on Missouri - St. Louis. Prior to tip off the Cardinals will honor senior Maddie Nelson and head coach Jill Slominski for their recent career milestones.