CANTON, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team was defeated on a last second buzzer beater by Walsh University in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) road contest today (Dec. 17), 49-47.

The Lady Cardinals had the momentum early, getting out to a quick 4-0 lead after a pair of free throws by Katelyn Carriere (London, Ontario / John Paul II) and a jump shot by Meijer "Player of the Game" Emily Wendling (Flushing, Mich. / Flushing HS), who finished the contest with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

After a Cavalier offensive rebound and put back, consecutive jump shots by Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich. / Goodrich HS) gave Saginaw Valley their biggest lead of the first half at 6-2 with 17:59 to play. For the game, Zirzow would lead all scorers with 13 points to go with six boards.

After back and forth play, a Zirzow jump shot put the Cardinals up 12-11 with 12:00 to go in the half. However, Walsh would use offensive rebounding to gain back the momentum and go on a 14-2 run over the next 11:30 of play. With :30 seconds left in the half, a pair of free throws and a jumper by Greene gave Saginaw Valley a lift heading into the half down 25-18.

For the first half, the Cardinals shot 6-of-22 (27 percent) from the floor, while allowing the Cavaliers to shoot 36 percent on 9-of-25 shooting.

The Cardinals kept the momentum going into the second half as they started off on a 8-0 run, capped by a Greene jumper, to put Saginaw Valley up 28-27 with 16:40 to play in the contest.

After consecutive good jump shots by Wendling, a Briana Graham (Detroit, Mich. / Detroit Martin Luther King HS) ten-footer gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the game at 39-31 with 10:11 left in the contest. The Cavaliers took the momentum back by scoring the next seven points. The two teams battled back and forth until the final seconds of regulation.

With the score tied at 47-47, Saginaw Valley had possession of the ball with :49 seconds left to play. After missing two jump shot attempts, the Cardinals lost the ball to Walsh with :13 seconds remaining in the game. After initially stopping the first Cavalier shot, Saginaw Valley could not corral the rebound and gave up the game-winning shot as time expired to lose 47-49.

The contest was close in many facets of the game, including identical field goal percentage (35 percent), points in the paint (16) and turnovers (21). However, the Cardinals lost the edge in rebounding 40-36, with the last one surrendered being the difference maker in the game.

With the loss, Saginaw Valley falls to 3-5 overall on the season and 2-3 in the GLIAC, while Walsh improves to 3-4 overall and 1-4 in conference.  The Cardinals will return to the hardwood on December 30th, when they travel to Savannah, Ga. to take on Armstrong Atlantic State University at 1:30 PM.