The Spring Arbor University women's basketball team played a strong game, pushing the #15 ranked Bethel College Lady Pilots to the brink, but could not close the game and dropped a 53-54 heartbreaker in the final five seconds of the contest.
Spring Arbor (1-13) controlled an ugly first half, as the Cougar's defense held the high octane Pilot offense to just 20% from the floor. SAU did little better in the first stanza, but managed a 33% clip and headed into the locker room with a narrow 19-16 lead.
The second half saw the offenses for both teams open up. Both Bethel (14-4) and Spring Arbor shot 46% in the final frame, but the difference in the game turned out to be turnovers as SAU committed 20 and Bethel just 15.
In a nip and tuck second half, the teams swapped the lead several times with neither team building more than a four point advantage.
Down three points with less than a minute to play, Cougar post Melissa Tejkl stepped outside and drained a three point shot that tied the game at 47. Bethel responded with a three point bomb of their own to surge back ahead at 50-47.
With the clock running down, a broken play on the offensive end of the floor ended with the ball in Kristen Kotarba's hands at the top of the key and well back of the three point arc. Kotarba squared up and her long range effort found nothing but net with just five seconds remaining in the contest to knot the score at 53 all.
The Cougars had a momentary lapse in judgement as they committed a foul trying to steal the inbounds pass, leaving Bethel a pair of free throws to ice the game. After a miss on the opening toss, the Pilots sank the second charity effort and stole a one point victory.
"I am extremely proud of how hard we played against a very good opponent," commented SAU head coach Tara Kreklau. "We are starting to get a consistent effort from our players, and that will lead to good things for our basketball team."
Tejkl led the Cougars with 17 points on 5 for 10 from the floor and 6 for 7 from the free throw line. Trisha Seilhamer and Courtney Smith chipped in with nine and eight points respectively, while Kotarba grabbed a team high nine rebounds.
The Cougars will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Marion, Indiana to take on the Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats who are ranked #8 in the NAIA. The game is schedule ot tip off at 7:00 p.m.
