YANKTON, S.D. – College of Saint Mary's upset bid fell just short in the final minutes of its season finale, as Mount Marty University held on for a 61-50 Great Plains Athletic Conference basketball victory on Saturday at Cimpl Arena.

"We played pretty well,'' CSM Coach Natalie Miller said. "We did a good job getting downhill, but became stagnant throughout the game.''

The Flames finished the season at 4-24 overall and 3-19 in GPAC play, good for 10^th in the 12-team league. Mount Marty improved to 15-13 and 10-12.

CSM was right in contention when Madelyn Gaughen scored off a Haley Debuse assist to pull within 53-50 with 3:56 remaining in the game. However, the Flames went cold at the wrong time, as they were unable to score the rest of the way and the Lancers scored the final eight points.

"We lost in the last two minutes,'' Miller said. "Defensively, we didn't rebound well, but we contested shots well.''

CSM played an outstanding first half, leading by as many as eight and turning in some strong defense to lead 24-21 at the intermission. Miller's club stayed in contention until the final moments when it couldn't get any shots to fall.

Debuse led the way with a terrific game in her final outing in a Flames uniform. She ended with 18 points on 4-of-7 3-point shooting, to go with three rebounds and a pair of blocks.

"Haley had a big game,'' Miller said.

Jai'La Porter added eight points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Fittingly, sisters Madelyn and Kathryn Gaughen each scored eight points and pulled down seven rebounds. They both had one offensive rebound and six on the defensive end.

It was the final game for Debuse, Madelyn Gaughen and Meghan Keil.

"I definitely want to acknowledge Meg, G and Haley,'' Miller said.