By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

LACEY, Wash. – Kiana Rios conducted the Saint Martin’s University pep band into a chorus of ‘Oh When The Saints Go Marching In’ with a game-winning layup in the semifinals of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championships, as her team edged No. 2 seed Montana State Billings 50-48 in a crowded and loud Marcus Pavilion.
 
With the score tied at 48-48 and 2.2 seconds remaining on the clock, Rios executed a run to get open, caught an inbounds pass from GNAC Freshman of the Year Jada Travis and finished a clean layup to nudge her team in front with just 0.4 seconds left. “With the amount of time left on the clock, I knew that once I did get the ball I had to turn and look to see what I had,” Rios said, describing her game-winning shot. “In the moment I went with it, it worked in my favor and I still can’t believe it. It’s just a surreal moment, and I’m very grateful for the group of girls I have behind me.”
 
A last-ditch shot by the Yellowjackets didn’t get off in time, and the band cut through an uproar from the crowd with the eponymous fight song to fittingly play the home team into its first-ever GNAC Championships finals. “The trust we have built over the course of the season and the fight that this group has – I’m just so proud of their toughness and grit,” said SMU head coach Natalie Marlowe, who is in her second season in charge of the program. “When you’ve got a team that loves each other and cares for each other, things like this happen. We played outstanding defense – we are still trying to find a way to score more points, but I can’t say enough about their will to win for each other.”
 
The defensive slugfest never favored either team by more than two possessions, with 14 lead changes and seven ties throughout the night. Rios led all players with 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, while adding four assists. Keeli Jade Smith chipped in 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting and Travis finished with a team-best 10 boards and five assists. “We faced so much adversity throughout the season, and coming to the end we are just leaving everything out there,” said Smith, a senior. “Every single person 1-through-13 – we’re all locked in, all cheering and all crashing the boards. It just takes everyone.”
 
The Saints (18-10) will face No. 1 seed Alaska Anchorage on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. with a chance for their first-ever GNAC title. The Seawolves trounced No. 4 seed Western Washington 67-38 in the first semifinal on Saturday afternoon to reach their seventh GNAC Championships title game. UAA’s six conference tournament crowns are the most of any GNAC school. Last Saturday in the regular-season finale, the Saints upset then-No. 15 Alaska Anchorage 57-53 amid their current four-game winning streak.
 
Montana State Billings fell to 25-7 overall on the season with the defeat and will await a spot in the NCAA West Region Championships with the field to be announced on Sunday evening. First-team all-GNAC forward Dyauni Boyce led her team with 14 points and second-teamer Aspen Giese added 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting. Second-team all-GNAC guard Kortney Nelson led all players with 11 rebounds while adding five assists and a pair of steals. The Yellowjackets shot just 31.0% (18-for-58) overall, went 5-for-21 (23.8%) from long distance and made 7 of 14 free throws (50.0%) in the defeat.
 
Neither team led by more than three points in a back-and-forth final quarter – it was a three-point play by SMU’s Iternite Reed that created a 48-45 advantage with 96 seconds left on the clock. MSUB’s Layla Baumann responded with a huge triple to tie it up at 48-48, and it proved to be the final points before Rios’s heroic finish. “For this to be on our home court is an incredible opportunity for us to take advantage of,” Marlowe said hinting at a crowd that provided a consistently high energy level throughout Friday’s thriller. “There is nothing to change, nothing to adjust as long as we stick together and perform the way we are capable of.”
 
GAME NOTES: It was the first win of the season for the Saints against the Yellowjackets, with MSUB sweeping the regular-season games between the two… the Yellowjackets were in the GNAC Championships for the 12th time…MSUB is now 9-10 all-time in tournament games…the Saints are in the GNAC Championships for the sixth time and have an all-time record of 4-4 in tournament games…SMU is in pursuit of its first-ever tournament title…its furthest previous advancement was in 2014 when it upset No. 3 seed Alaska Anchorage in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals.
 
NEXT UP: The Saints will square off against No. 1 seed Alaska Anchorage in the championship game on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific).  It will be the second time the Saints and Seawolves have crossed paths at the conference tournament, with SMU winning the only other contest.