Box Score Kansas City, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team kept their season alive on Thursday evening, taking down #22 Pittsburg State 67-65. Alex Botkin hit the game-winning layup with only 0.6 seconds left on the clock as SBU improves to 13-15 on the season.

The game between SBU and PSU was an extremely tight contest throughout the entire game. Neither team led by more than 7 points, while the game saw 7 lead changes and 8 ties. Pittsburg State opened the game up on a layup, but the Bearcats came right back with a three from Dilonna Johnson and a layup from Jacqui Zelenka to take a 5-2 lead. The Bearcats and Gorillas continued to change leads throughout the entire first half, and SBU went up by a game high 5 (32-27), before going into the half up 32-29.

In the second half SBU held onto their lead for the first four minutes of the half, as the strong defensive battle continued. Pittsburg State took the first lead of the second half with 15:04 left in the contest, and would hold the lead from the 13:15 mark until 00:35 left in the game. Each time the Bearcats pulled within three, PSU had a response. With 2:57 left in the contest, Pitt State hit a three to take a 61-55 lead. Twelve seconds later Dilonna Johnson came down a hit a huge pull up three to cut the lead in half at 61-58. PSU came right back to hit another three, but the Bearcats were eventually able to cut the lead down to three (65-62) off of a Morgan Lucy jumper with 1:19 left in the game. After an SBU stop on defense, Jacqui Zelenka drove the lane, and hit a wide open Alex Botkin in the corner who sank a three to tie the game up at 65-65 with 35 seconds left. The Bearcats had another big defensive stand, as SBU got the ball back with 16 seconds left. After a missed layup with 2 seconds left, Alex Botkin came up big with an offensive rebound and put back with 0.6 seconds remaining on the clock. The Bearcats would hold the Gorillas as SBU claimed the 67-65 victory.

Jacqui Zelenka once again led the Bearcats with a game high 19 points to go along with 8 rebounds. Lissette Plasencia gave SBU a career high 18 points, including 12-14 from the free-throw line, while Alex Botkin had 10 points and Dilonna Johnson added 8. As a team SBU shot 40.4% from the field, 45.5% from beyond the arc, and 80.0% from the free throw line.

"I can't say enough about our team," head coach Todd Voss stated after the victory. "I felt like we were really resilient, and we had chances to go away, but we never flinched. I think that goes back to our kids and leadership, as we've got two great seniors in Jacqui Zelenka and Tanis Spani. Tonight was nothing less than a total team effort and we praise the Lord for that. We had an opportunity to play a complete game, and we made a bunch of huge plays down the stretch. Defense was the key to the game for us. I can't say enough about our team, I really like where we are at right now, and we are excited to be going on to Saturday."

SBU will now face #7 Emporia State in the semi-finals of the MIAA Women's Basketball Tournament on Saturday, March 8. Tip-off is set for 2:15 p.m. from Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.