LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – TheUniversity of Saint Mary women's basketball team spoiled senior night for Southwestern College, by defeating the Moundbuilders 74-73 after a buzzer beater from Nese Selepeo.

The Spires are now 5-22 overall and 5-18 in the KCAC.

Saint Mary controlled the first quarter as Dakota Corle started things off by scoring two straight baskets. Three triples by Selepeo and Danielle Cassady put Saint Mary up 15-8. The Moundbuilders found themselves down 19-10 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Southwestern creeped their way back into the game and trailed by four, but free-throws and some unanswered baskets put the Spires up 41-28 at the half. Going into halftime, the Spires were perfect from the free-throw line as they went 6-for-6 and shot over 40 percent from the field.

Saint Mary kept their foot on the gas as Selepeo, Macy Walker, and Cassady each drained a three-pointer in the opening minutes of the third quarter. The Moundbuilders found some momentum as they went on a 15-3 run to close out the quarter. They got back to within single digits as Southwestern trailed 56-48 going into the final quarter. After some missed shots from the Spires, and made baskets by the Moundbuilders, it was only a two-point game.

The Spires responded with back-to-back triples from Cassady and Rebecca Gilpin to give them some more cushion. With just over a minute to play, Southwestern took their first lead of the game with a 70-69 score. On their next offensive possession, Saint Mary snagged the rebound and called timeout with :17 seconds left to play, still trailing by one. Cassady got the inbound and drove to the middle of the lane for a floater, which put the Spires up 71-70 with :08 seconds remaining. On a fake handoff, the Moundbuilders ripped and went up for a layup and the foul to put them up 73-71. In the last seconds of the game, Cassady passed it to Gilpin on the wing, and her to Selepeo in the corner, who got the shot off just as the buzzer went off to win the game.

Cassady led the team in points (26), rebounds (8), and assists (9). Selepeo finished with 22 points. Walker was just shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.

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The Spires travel to Avila University Saturday in their final game of the season. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.

Nese Selepeo's game-winning shot to give the Spires a 74-73 win.