GREAT FALLS, Mont. – If not for an ice-cold third quarter from the University of Providence women's basketball team, UP's first round playoff game against Lewis-Clark State College would have gone down to the wire. Even with the team shooting 25 percent in that 10 minute stretch, it was still a one-score game with eight seconds left, but it did go the Lady Argo's way in a 74-69 loss.
 
A controversial foul call with just over 40 seconds left played a major factor in the outcome. UP's senior guard Molly Herron looked to have her second straight steal, giving UP a chance to get the gap down to 2 points. Just as she started to break into transition with the ball, a whistle was blown to call her for a foul and 30 more seconds came off the clock before the Lady Argos got the ball back. 
 
UP trailed by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, but with just over five minutes to go, junior post Tristan Murphy scored 8 straight points to pull the Lady Argos within 5 with 2:32 left on the clock.
 
Murphy played the best offensive game of her NAIA career, finishing with a career high and game high 20 points on 9-12 shooting. She took advantage of an LC State defensive strategy intent on slowing down UP's freshman post Parker Esary.
 
That tactic was mostly successful as Esary only made 2 field goals and had just 2 points in the first half. When Esary and Murphy were both on the court, however, LCSC's attention to the freshman gave Murphy plenty of open looks. Unfortunately for the Lady Argos, the two weren't on the court together first often, with Murphy limited to just 19 minutes on the floor due to foul trouble.
 
Murphy's absence was most significantly missed in a third quarter where she only played three minutes. During that 10 minute period, the lid was on the bucket for UP. In each of the other three quarters, the Lady Argos shot 41 percent or better from the field but went 5-20 in the third quarter.
 
In the first half, the two teams were neck-and-neck, but the Warriors hit late threes in both the first and second quarter which made the difference in a 39-32 LCSC lead through 20 minutes.
 
Joining Murphy as UP's two most effective scorers in the game was senior guard Stephanie McDonagh who finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds in what could be the last game of her career if the Lady Argos aren't selected for the 2018 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.
 
If this is the last game of her collegiate career, she will finish as the program's career leader in steals (269), along with second in program history in career assists (339), second in career rebounds (747), and third in career points (1748).
 
The loss knocks the Lady Argos out of the Frontier Conference playoffs and puts the team squarely on the bubble for an at-large bid to the 2018 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. The selection show for nationals will be held on March 7 at 4 p.m. MT.