AUSTIN, Texas - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team defeated St. Edward's University today (Dec. 30), 63-62 at the St. Edward's New Year's Classic. The Cardinals improve to 3-7 with the win, while St. Edward's falls to 3-10 on the season.

SVSU was led by Grace Herzog (Linden, Mich./Powers Catholic HS) who earned Meijer "Player of the Game" honors with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks. Herzog finished the game 6-of-10 shooting from the floor.

A layup by Cheritee Green (Wyoming Park, Mich.) would cap off a 9-3 run by the Cardinals to tie the game at 20 with 3:43 to play in the first half. Green finished the night with eight points and three rebounds.

A late Hilltopper bucket gave St. Edward's a 27-26 edge heading into the half.

Saginaw Valley grabbed the lead early in the second half taking a 39-35 advantage after Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich.) connected on a jump shot at the 14:24 mark.

Cheritee Green pushed the Cardinal lead to 53-42 after knocking down a pair of free throws with 7:13 remaining in regulation.

The Hilltoppers cut the SVSU advantage to five before a Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) layup pushed the lead back to 57-50 with just over four minutes to play.

St. Edward's tied up the contest with just under two minutes to go, but Zirzow answered right back to give the Cardinals a 59-57 edge with 1:27 left to play. A Herzog layup would increase the Cardinal advantage to four with 47 seconds remaining.

Saginaw Valley forced a late turnover and Zirzow stepped to the charity stripe, making both shots, to give SVSU a 63-59 lead with five seconds left. The Hilltoppers would connect on a last-second triple as Saginaw Valley prevailed 63-62.

SVSU shot 52 percent from the field on 24-of-46 shooting and outrebounded the Hilltoppers 40-33.

Zirzow finished the evening with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including two clutch free throws with five seconds remaining. Jasmine Woods (Lansing, Mich./Holt HS) recorded nine points, while Kayla Womack (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./North HS) posted seven points and ten rebounds.

Saginaw Valley will finish the St. Edward's New Year's Classic on Saturday (Dec. 31) when they battle Northeastern St. (Okla.) at 12:30 PM.