ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Griffon Women's Basketball (4-7, 0-2 MIAA) built a 14-point second half lead and held on for a 76-69 win over McKendree (5-4, 2-1 GLVC) on Saturday afternoon at MWSU Fieldhouse.

The Griffons, who score back-to-back wins for the first time this season, were slow to start, getting down 18-10 with 4:08 left in the first quarter.

MoWest got going, leading 24-20 by the end of the first. McKendree led 35-33 at halftime, but the Griffons came out on fire in the third quarter, opening the second half on a 23-7 run to lead 56-42 with 3:24 left in the third.

McKendree never went away, tying the game at 64-64 with 3:04 remaining in the fourth. MoWest had the answers, as Mia Morel and Lindsey Kelderman hit back-to-back three-pointers to push the lead to 70-64 with 2:20 to go.

Nakiya Harris also hit four consecutive free throws in the final 21 seconds to seal the deal. Harris ended up with her third double-double of the season, scoring all 13 of her points in the second half to go with a team-best 10 rebounds.

Morel had a team-best 17 points to go with five assists and four rebounds. Ana Oliveira Dias had 15 points and a game-high seven assists. LaNicia Parker came off the bench for 13 points, shooting 3-of-6 from downtown.

MoWest shot 27-of-66 (40.9%) from the field, including 12-of-33 (36.4%) from three. The Griffons doled out 18 assists, and scored 23 points off of 16 McKendree turnovers.

MoWest resumes conference play in the New Year on Thursday, January 1 to face Nebraska-Kearney. Tip-off from the Health and Sports Center in Kearney is set for 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Griffon Sports Network (Varsity Network App, GoGriffons.com/listen) and the MIAA Network.