BILLINGS, Mont. – After leading most of the way, Montana State Billings slipped into the lead and held off the Saints' comeback attempt to hand SMU a loss on Thursday night.
 
Claire Dingus and Tierney DeDonatis both scored 17 points on the night, to fuel the Saints' (10-10, 2-9 GNAC) offense. However, outside of Rian Clear's seven points, and Emily Nelson's six, it was a lone 3-pointer from Iternite Reed that amounted for the rest of the Saints' 50 points.
 
Saint Martin's jumped out to 7-2 lead over the Yellowjackets (14-9, 8-3), limiting MSUB to only one field goal in the opening five minutes. Montana State Billings began chipping away and eventually tied up the at 10-10 on the first possession of the second quarter.
 
The Saints proceeded to take control of the game, cruising to a 13-point lead on a 19-6 run midway through the second quarter. MSUB cut the lead down to seven before going to halftime.
 
The lead once again jumped to double-digits in the third quarter, as Saint Martin's looked to be in full control with two minutes left in the quarter. Once again, the Yellowjackets closed out the quarter by scoring the final six points to be within one possession going into the final ten minutes.
 
It wasn't until the 3:28 mark in the fourth that the Yellowjackets managed to claim their first lead of the game at 48-46. With a basket from Dingus, and a pair of free of throws by DeDonatis, the Saints' efforts to tie up the game narrowly fell short, falling 52-50.
 
The Saints' three-game road trip this week concludes in Seattle Pacific, as the Saints face off against the Falcons on Saturday. Live stats and video of the game will be available on smusaints.com.