St. Ambrose saw its 16-game winning streak come to a close with a 72-44 loss at No. 20 Saint Xavier Thursday night. The loss dropped SAU to 22-2 overall and 15-2 in the CCAC.

In a battle of conference leaders, the Bees scored just nine points in each of the first three quarters. And the Cougars broke things open with a big second quarter.

While SAU shot just 3-of-13 from the field in the second, that coming on the heels of a 3-of-14 opening period, SXU exploded for 27 points in the frame. After a Shayne Smith layup pulled the Bees to within 27-18 with just under four-and-a-half minutes left, the Cougars (17-5, 15-1 CCAC) scored the final 13 points of the half to build a 40-18 lead at the break.

It didn't get any better in the second half.

After closing the first half by missing five straight shots and committing four turnovers over the final four-plus minutes, the Bees misfired on their first four attempts and committed another turnover in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Jaynee Prestegaard finally snapped the nearly seven-minute scoring drought with a layup, but that was followed by four straight Cougar points to put the Bees in a 47-20 hole. SAU never threatened from there.

St. Ambrose shot just 30.6 percent from the floor and committed 24 turnovers, both second-worst marks of the season. Saint Xavier didn't fare much better, shooting at a 38.2-percent clip, but the Bees forced just seven Cougar turnovers, allowing SXU to attempt 19 more field goals than SAU.

Anna Plumer was the lone Bee to score in double figures. She knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with 11 points. Smith and Prestegaard each scored eight.

Mel Stewart (five points), Avari Everts (four) and Madeline Prestegaard (three) combined for 12 points off the bench. Kylie Wroblewski also scored three points while grabbing a team-best eight rebounds.

St. Ambrose will look to bounce back Saturday with a conference matchup at Judson.