SOMERS, Wis. -- Sophomore Taylor Stephen and junior Shelby Cheston each made crucial plays down the stretch and Wisconsin-Parkside held off Missouri-St. Louis 73-70 to post its third-consecutive victory on Saturday in a Great Lakes Valley Conference game in DeSimone Gymnasium.

Stephen made a pair of free throws with 9.2 seconds to play giving the Rangers a 73-70 lead. Missouri-St. Louis' Robneisha Lee misfired on a three-pointer with four seconds to play and neither team was able to gain control of the rebound before the horn sounded giving the Rangers the victory.

Cheston made two plays with under 15 seconds to play in regulation that helped direct the outcome of the game. With the Rangers clinging to a 69-67 lead, Cheston blocked a layup by Chesley Jacox with 15.2 seconds to play and the Rangers regained possession of the ball when Shawnta Johnson was called for traveling after she picked up the offensive rebound.

Cheston was fouled with 13.2 seconds remaining in regulation and calmly made both free throws to increase the lead to 71-67. Jacox countered with a three-pointer for the Tritons that cut the lead to 71-70, but Stephen made her two free throw attempts to push the margin to 73-70.

Wisconsin-Parkside, which improved to 5-10 overall and 3-4 in the GLVC, overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to rally for the victory.

Back-to-back jumpers by Brittney Fair and a three-pointer by Stephen cut the Missouri-St. Louis lead to 57-55 with 6:23 to play in the fourth quarter. A layup by Lee gave the Tritons a 59-55 lead with 5:54 to play, but Fair answered with a three-pointer to bring the Rangers to within 59-58 with 5:34 left to play.

Jordan Fletcher increased the UMSL lead to 60-58, but Hayley Maystead tied the game with a layup at the 4:55 mark of the fourth quarter. The Rangers stretched the lead to 63-60 on a free throw and another layup by Maystead, but Missouri-St. Louis rallied to tie the game at 64-64 on a pair of free throws by Laura Szorenyi with 2:06 remaining in the game.

Fair put the Rangers in front to stay 66-64 with a jumper and followed a Triton free throw with a layup to extend the lead to 68-65 with 51 seconds remaining in the game.

Jordan Fletcher scored inside for Missouri-St. Louis with 32 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 68-67 and then Blair Arthur made one of two free throws to increase the lead to 69-67 setting the stage for the heroics of Stephen and Cheston.

Fair led the Rangers with a career-high 21 points, which topped her previous career high of 20 points that she scored on Thursday. She was 7-of-10 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the free throw line and also added five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Stephen finished with nine points and three assists, while Olivia Montague had seven points and two steals. Maystead had seven points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Lauren Boerger added seven points for the Rangers. Kauri Jensen finished with six points, seven rebounds and three assists and Cheston had six points, four rebounds and four blocked shots.

Missouri-St. Louis, which dropped to 7-7 overall and 2-4 in conference play, was led by Fletcher who poured in 26 points. Johnson added 14 points and Jacox finished with 12 points for the Tritons.

Wisconsin-Parkside returns to action on Thursday (Jan. 19) when it visits Southern Indiana for a GLVC game at 5:30 p.m.