LACEY, Wash. — Kiana Rios' layup with less than a second remaining sunk Montana State Billings and lifted Saint Martin's to a 50-48 upset victory in the semifinal round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament Friday night at Marcus Pavilion.
With two seconds left, Rios took an inbound pass from Jada Travis, attacked the hoop and scored to give Saint Martin's the lead with 0.4 seconds on the clock. The Yellowjackets called timeout to set up a catch-and-shoot play at mid-court but was unsuccessful.
No. 6 seed Saint Martin's, playing on its home floor, advances to the GNAC title game for the first time in program history. With the loss, No. 2 seed MSU Billings fell to 25-7 overall and will wait to see if it receives an at-large bid for the NCAA Division II West Regional.
The Yellowjackets shot just 31% for the game and made 5 of 21 3-point attempts and 7 of 14 from the foul line. Boyce led with 14 points and Aspen Giese added 12. Kortney Nelson scored four points but pulled down 11 rebounds and also had five assists.
Rios had 14 points to lead the Saints. Keeli Jade Smith added 13 points. Saint Martin's shot just 33.3% from the field.
The Saints will face GNAC regular-season champion and top-seeded Alaska Anchorage in the title game on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Mountain time.
