WINONA, Minn. – It was the only basket she would make all night, but it was one Connor Nagle made count. Nagle rattled home a 3-point shot with 1.6 seconds left to propel the Winona State women's basketball team to a 67-62 win over the University of Mary in the first round the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament Wednesday night in McCown Gym.
 
The Warriors got career performances out of freshman forward Hannah McGlone and sophomore center Kayla Timmerman. McGlone scored a career-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-7 from the charity stripe and recorded a team high eight rebounds. Timmerman, meanwhile, tied a career-high in blocked shots with six, surpassing Bernie Roskop for fourth on WSU's all-time single season blocks list with 56. She needs 11 blocks to tie Amanda Brown for third on WSU all-time single season blocks list.
 
It was a back-and-forth battle between the two squads as there were 20 lead changes throughout the game.
 
Tara Roelofs opened the scoring with a 3-pointer on its first possession to give WSU the early 3-0 lead, but Mary would take the lead over the next few minutes as both teams traded small runs. The Warriors soon retook the lead on another Roelofs 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 12-11 lead at the 15:03 mark of the first half.
 
The Marauders would regain the lead on back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 17-12, however, the Warrior bench had an answer.
 
Timmerman and Jenny Weiland both subbed in and gave the Warriors an immediate spark. Timmerman knocked down two jumpers in the lane and Weiland knocked down a layup on a beautiful Timmerman pass to give the Warriors an 18-17 lead once again.
 
Mary responded with another 5-0 run, but then the Warriors would make one of the biggest runs of the game – a 13-2 spurt between the 6:26 and 54 second marks of the first half to propel the Warriors to a 31-24 lead.
 
The Marauders closed out the first half on a 5-0 run that included a three-pointer at the first half buzzer to make it a 31-29 WSU lead at the half.
 
The second half provided more of the same, but the Marauders would jump out to a quick start by going on a 10-5 run to open the half and take a 39-36 lead with 16:23 to play.
 
Mary would hold the lead until the 13:21 mark when Roelofs buried another 3-pointer to make it 43-43.
 
The rest of the half would be a back-and-forth tug of war that involved 11 lead changes and six ties.
 
McGlone came up with some of the biggest buckets for the Warriors late in the game. With 3:56 remaining, McGlone knocked down a tough layup to make it 59-58 Warriors to put the game back in the Warriors' advantage. After the Marauders gained the lead back on two Hannah Larson free throws, it was McGlone again coming up with a big layup to make it 61-60 WSU with 1:27 to play.
 
The Warriors got a big stop on the defensive end as Timmerman came away with a crucial blocked shot in the lane for her sixth of the game and the Warriors came away with the loose ball. McGlone would make one of two free throws on the following possession to make it 62-60 Warriors with 52 seconds to play.
 
The Marauders answered with a Brittney Dietz layup with 42 seconds remaining to tie the game at 62 all that would lead to a wild finish on the other end for the Warriors.
 
With a 12 second difference between shot clock and game clock, Winona State had some difficulty running an offensive set and the ball would get knocked out of bounds with only one second left on the shot clock. Nagle found Roelofs at the top of the key on the in-bounds play and she hoisted up a desperation three that came off hard off the rim, but Alexis Foley tracked down the loose ball and allowed for the Warriors to call a timeout and set up one final play.
 
The Warriors made an effort to get the ball down to Timmerman in the lane, but with a triple team collapsing on her, she kicked it out for Nagle on the wing, who shot a three with a hand in her face and buried it with 1.6 seconds remaining.
 
After a chaotic turn of events and a few minutes of the officials confirming the time remaining in the game, it was determined that Mary had an in-bounding violation that gave the Warriors the ball back. The Marauders intentionally fouled Timmerman and she knocked down two free throws to ice the game and allowed the Warriors to advance to survive and advance.
 
Joining McGlone in double figures was Roelofs with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting and 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Timmerman also scored in double-figures with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting as well as 5-of-5 from the free throw line and added seven boards to go with her six blocked shots. Foley had a tough night shooting, but was big on the glass and distributing the ball as she recorded seven rebounds, as well as team-highs with four assists and two steals.
 
With the win, Winona State (20-7 overall, 15-7 NSIC) advances to the quarterfinal round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament and will take on MSU Moorhead at 8 p.m. on Saturday at The Pentagon in Sioux Falls.