Photo by Sam Thiel SMSU’s Jenna Borchers drives past a Concordia-St. Paul defender during their game on Saturday. The Mustangs fell to the Golden Bears 66-63.

MARSHALL – On Friday, the Southwest Minnesota State University women’s basketball team escaped with a last-second victory over Minnesota State University, Mankato. The Mustangs encountered another down-to-the-wire situation on Saturday against Concordia-St. Paul, but couldn’t come out with the win as the Golden Bears came-from-behind in the final minutes to earn a 66-63 win.

Trailing by one heading into the fourth quarter, the Mustangs got a 3-pointer from Sadie Stelter before a pair of layups from Caleigh Rodning and Stelter gave SMSU a 58-54 lead with 3:34 left. SMSU then pushed its lead to seven when Mateya Hutton collected an offensive rebound and found Meleah Reinhart, who connected on the 3-pointer to make it 61-54.

CSP responded, however, going on a 10-0 run to take a 64-61 lead with 28 seconds left. After a SMSU miss on the other end, the Golden Bears were fouled and connected on a pair of free throws to take a five-point lead with 12 seconds left. Rodning would then get a layup to go with eight seconds remaining to cut the deficit to three, 66-63, and SMSU was forced to foul Concordia-St. Paul once again.

But a pair of misses by the Golden Bears gave SMSU a final opportunity to tie the game and force overtime. SMSU wouldn’t connect on that chance, though, as the Mustangs fell just short.

“It was very frustrating; we didn’t stay in system, we didn’t stay within ourselves,” SMSU coach Tom Webb said. “We didn’t trust the whole and you’ve got to do those things. When you don’t do that, then this is what happens.”

The Mustangs jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, scoring the first five points before Concordia-St. Paul answered with a 9-1 run. Both teams then traded points the rest of the quarter as SMSU took a 15-14 lead after one.

SMSU increased its lead to start the second quarter with a pair of 3-pointers from Rodning and Jenna Borchers before a 3-point play by Rodning made it 29-17 with 5:48 left in the first half. The Golden Bears continued to work their deficit down to within six, but the Mustangs held a 34-27 lead at halftime.

Concordia-St. Paul shot out of the gates in the second half, going on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 34-34 before taking a 42-37 lead with 4:43 left in the third quarter. The Mustangs battled right back, though, as a layup by Abuk Akoi cut it to 49-45 before a 3-pointer from Borchers brought it to within one to close out the third and set the stage for the final quarter.

Rodning led the way for SMSU with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Akoi added 10 points and Stelter had eight.

Webb said in the first half they did a good job of staying in system and taking good shot opportunities, but went away from it in the second half which allowed CSP to climb back into the game.

“Staying in system and we took good shots and were selfless. Then we went away from that; we went away from all things that we were good at,” Webb said. “When you go away from all the things your good at, you learn in a hurry that you’re not that good.”

SMSU (4-4, 1-2 NSIC) will hit the road next weekend, starting with a matchup against St. Cloud State University on Friday at 5:30 p.m.