LACEY, Wash. - The Saint Martin's University women's basketball team accomplished something Saturday night for the first time in more than two years: beat a ranked team. Angela Gelhar calmly drained a three pointer with 54 seconds remaining and converted on four free throw attempts in the final seconds to secure the Saints 61-56 win over previously undefeated, #18-ranked Northwest Nazarene.

The win snapped an 11-game losing streak for Saint Martin's against Northwest Nazarene while it was the Saints first win over a ranked team since they defeated #11 Alaska-Anchorage back in January of 2011.

SMU got off to a bit of a slow start but used an 11-0 run to take a seven-point lead, 11-4, at 15:27 on MacKenzie Taylor's jumper. The Crusaders erased the deficit with a 13-2 run to go back up by four points, 17-13, with 9:54 remaining the half. NNU would hold onto the lead but SMU kept it close trailing by just three at the break.

The Saints found themselves in a bit of foul trouble as Chelsea Haskey picked up two quick fouls in the first half playing just nine minutes. She gave SMU a spark to start the second half as the Saints opened on a 13-3 run to take a seven-point lead at 15:46 on Haskey's layup.

But Haskey found herself in foul trouble once again as she picked up her fourth foul with 14:40 remaining in the game and returned to the bench for the next seven minutes. That did not slow down the Saints however as they kept their lead and Taylor's two free throws at 9:48 gave SMU its biggest lead of the game, 49-41, of eight points.

NNU answered with a 13-3 run of its own and took its first lead since early minutes of the second half making it 54-52 with 4:07 left to go. Both teams had chances over the next two minutes but failed to capitalized until Haskey found her way to the line at the 1:49 mark.

Haskey made both free throws tying the game and a Northwest Nazarene turnover on its next trip down the floor gave the Saints a chance to take the lead. Haskey's shot was blocked but she tracked down the loose ball extending the Saints possession. Then it was Taylor who found Gelhar open on the right win for a long three pointer to give SMU the 54-51 lead with just 54 seconds remaining in the game.

Again NNU turned the ball over an Gelhar had another look at a three that didn't go down but there once again was Haskey tracking down the rebound with just 16 seconds left. Gelhar would head to the line with 15 seconds and three seconds on the clock hitting all four free throws to secure the win.

Despite being outrebounded, 44-30, SMU's defense frustrated the Crusaders as they turned the ball over 24 times, were just 3-of-13 from the three-point line and finished the game shooting just 30.9 percent.

The Saints were nearly automatic from the free throw line hitting on 25-of-28 attempts as Gelhar was a perfect 12-of-12. She finished the game with a career-high 27 points. Haskey added 13 points and five rebounds despite the foul trouble with Taylor helped spark the Saints with 10 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

SMU (5-3, 2-0 GNAC) will play a pair of non-conference games next week on back-to-back days at Hawaii Hilo on Dec. 13th and 14th.