GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence women's basketball team completed an unprecedented Frontier Conference Tournament run by defeating Lewis-Clark State 69-66 in a thrilling conference championship game.The win is the third straight win on the road in the tournament for the Argos.

Up 67-66 with six seconds left, Emilee Maldonado made two free throws to make it 69-66. Jamie Nielson missed a three at the buzzer to tie it up, securing the Argo victory.

"I'm just really proud of the kids," head coach Bill Himmelberg said. "They executed down the stretch. We won three straight tough road games in this tournament. I don't know if that's ever happened in the Frontier Conference. It's pretty exciting that we were able to do that."

Down 17-12 at the end of the first quarter, the Argos used a 20-9 second quarter to take a 32-26 lead at halftime. They never gave up the lead the rest of the game.

"They got us at the jump, but once we settled in we started doing what we're able to do," Himmelberg said.

Four Argos scored in double figures, with Emilee Maldonado leading the way with 17 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Parker Esary scored 16 points and 5 rebounds, Jenna Randich hit five three-pointers to contribute 15 points and Bailey Cartwright recorded a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Jansen Edmiston led the Warriors with 21 points.

The Argos will return to Great Falls tomorrow in time for the NAIA Selection Show, where they will learn their seed for the NAIA National Tournament. 

"There's nobody in the country that will have more confidence than us," Himmelberg said. "We did what we needed to do. If we execute then we're going to have a good opportunity to compete at the National Tournament. This is just more validation of all the hard work we've been doing all the year. This proves we can compete with anybody."