Saint Mary women's basketball upset (RV) Friends at home on Saturday in the Ryan Sports Center. Friends entered the contest 10-5 in conference play and 18-9 overall. With the win, the Spires climb to 5-11 in conference play and 8-17 overall. Saint Mary is one game back of Bethel for seventh place in the KCAC with two games left to play.

The Spires would build an eight point lead with 11:28 left in the first half, but would relinquish that lead and trail by seven entering halftime. After Friends pushed their lead to 43-32 with 17:21 left in the game, Saint Mary responded with a 15-4 run to tie the game at 47 all with 9:06 remaining. From there, the game would be tied four more times before the Spires pushed out to a six point lead with just 1:04 left in the game. Friends would trim the lead to one point with 31 seconds on the clock. Imani Dixon hit a free throw to get the lead to two points. Friends missed their next shot and Mariah Marusak pulled down the rebound. After Shanice Palmer made three of four free throws around a Friends bucket, Friends would get one last shot trailing by three points, but it would be no good giving Saint Mary the 68-65 victory.

Kelsey Switzer and Imani Dixon each just missed double-doubles as they both finished with nine rebounds. Switzer had 22 points and Dixon fininshed with 19. Rachel Emde chipped in eight points for the Spires. Switzer also led the team in assists with five. Saint Mary would limit Friends to just 5 of 27 from three point range in the win.

This week. the Spires round out regular season play with three contests. Monday, Saint Mary takes on Grace University at 7pm at home. On Thursday, the Spires travel to Bethany for a 6pm matchup. Saturday will be the regular season finale at McPherson beginning at 3pm.