[Women's Basketball] Fourth-quarter rally falls a point short in loss to No. 20 Tigers

It took St. Ambrose just over four minutes to erase a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit. Then it took just 38 seconds for the Bees to give it all away.

SAU saw its fourth-quarter rally come up a point short in a 98-97 loss to No. 20 Olivet Nazarene in a CCAC matchup at Lee Lohman Arena Saturday afternoon.

The Bees (5-7, 4-4 CCAC) trailed by as many as 15 points in the third quarter and were behind 74-64 to the high-flying Tigers with eight minutes left. But over those next four-plus minutes, St. Ambrose went on a 14-3 run behind Gabrielle Koelker and Kylie Wroblewski. They each scored five points during the run and Koelker's jumper capped it off to give St. Ambrose a 78-77 with under four minutes left. It was the Bees' first lead since holding a 10-8 advantage midway through the opening quarter.

But it was all gone in the blink of an eye.

Seconds after Koelker's jumper, ONU (11-3, 7-1 CCAC) raced down court and hit a 3-pointer to regain the lead. Madi Epperson missed inside and the Tigers followed with another three to extend to a five-point lead. A turnover led to another empty St. Ambrose possession and Olivet Nazarene capitalized, converting a three-point play for an 86-78 lead with just under three minutes left. The game-changing 8-0 spurt took just 38 seconds.

Koelker hit 1-of-2 from the line but yet another ONU 3-pointer pushed the lead to 89-79 with 2:25 remaining.

The Tigers missed six free throws down the stretch to keep the door open. Jamie Martens knocked down a three and Epperson scored six quick points to stage a final SAU rally. In the final 20 seconds, Martens scored and was fouled on a driving layup and her three-point play closed the gap to 95-92. After one ONU free throw, Martens scored again to pull the Bees to within 96-94 with inside 10 seconds left. But the Tigers sealed the win with two free throws as Epperson's 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left completed the scoring.

Wroblewski led all players with 29 points. She finished 12-of-14 from the field, and scored all 14 of the Bees' first quarter points. She also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Koelker, Epperson and Martens each scored 16 points. Maddy Cash had eight, Abby Lownik scored six and Madeline Prestegaard finished with four points.

The Bees will next head to Arizona and visit Park-Gilbert Tuesday night.