ROCHESTER, Mich. - March 2 - Southern Utah women's basketball saw Oakland's Melissa Jeltema hit a shot with 7.6 seconds remaining on the clock to give the Golden Grizzlies the win as the Thunderbirds fell 56-55 on the road on Monday night.  The loss ends the T-Birds roller coaster season that began with the passing of head coach Steve Hodson and ended with a 9-20 overall record and 5-13 mark in conference play.

The T-Birds surrendered 20 more shot attempts to Oakland, but held the Golden Grizzlies to just 32.4 percent from the field during the night while shooting 45.1 percent on their own end of the floor.

Neither team led by more than four points during the first half, until Oakland put together a 13-0 run to take a 27-15 lead with 5:15 to play in the first half.  The Thunderbirds fought back to tie the game at 29-29 after a 14-2 run over the next four minutes and ultimately took a three-point lead into the break as Kaila Goff found the bottom of the net with one second on the clock to give the T-Birds a 32-29 advantage at the intermission.

Southern Utah led throughout the second half despite runs by Oakland that tied the score on two occasions early in the half.  The T-Birds had a lead of as much as five (55-50) with 2:09 remaining, but three unanswered jumpers down the stretch, including Jeltema's with 7.6 remaining swiped the victory from Southern Utah's hands.  Freshman Cassie Platt missed a last-ditch 3-point attempt with one second left as SUU suffered the 56-55 defeat.

Anne Westwood Higbee finished her career as one of two double-digit scorers for the T-Birds with a team-high 14 points.  Higbee also etched her name in the record books after playing in her SUU-record 116 contest.  She was joined in double figures by Goff with 11.

Oakland had four players in double digits, led by Jeltema with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jessica Pike with 12 and April Kidd and Brittany Carnago with ten, respectively.