Lacey, WA – Two missed free throws by Central Washington in the final seconds was enough for Saint Martin's to pull out the 53-50 win in the first Great Northwest Athletic Conference game of the season for both teams on Thursday night at the Marcus Pavilion.

With just six seconds on the clock and the score 51-50 in favor of SMU, Central went to the free throw line with a chance to take the lead, but Sophie Russell missed both attempts for the Wildcats. The Saints got the ball back and were fouled on their end of the floor with one second to play. Roni Jo Mielke went to the line for SMU, sinking both shots to secure the win.

“It was just another free throw; coach Healy is big on free throws so we shoot a lot of them in practice,” said Mielke on her game clinchers.

CWU led 24-20 at halftime only to see the Saints score the first eight points of the second half to take a 28-24 lead but an 8-0 run of their own put the Wildcats back on top. The two teams battled the rest of the way with neither able to establish a solid advantage. SMU was up by five with a minute to play. Back-to-back-buckets from the Wildcats cut the deficit to one and set up the thrilling finish.

Mielke finished with a game-high 19 points and Zack added 14. Zack also pulled down a game-high 20 rebounds, including a GNAC record 12 on the offensive end, to become just eighth player in GNAC history to record that many in a game.

The game was career head coaching victory for Saints' assistant coach Lisa Hendrickson who took over for head coach Tim Healy, out due to illness.

“The bench had a lot of good energy tonight. We had really good leadership and we stuck together as a team,” said Zack. “it was good to get a win for coach Lisa.”

The Saints' next game will be on Monday, December 6, at home against Pacific Lutheran University in non-conference action.