The regular season came to a bit of a disappointing end for St. Ambrose as the Bees dropped a 71-65 decision at Indiana South Bend Saturday afternoon.

SAU will still open the upcoming CCAC Tournament at home, but the Bees will do so as the No. 4 seed against Olivet Nazarene next Tuesday night. St. Ambrose (24-5, 17-5 CCAC) had hopes for the third seed but Saturday's loss allowed South Bend (24-6, 17-5 CCAC) to forge into a third-place tie with SAU, and the Titans earned the tiebreaker by virtue of the head-to-head victory.

The loss came despite St. Ambrose outshooting IUSB both from the floor and from beyond the arc. The Bees shot 42.6 percent from the field and hit 7 of their 14 3-point attempts. The Titans, meanwhile, shot 38.6 percent overall and were 8-of-30 from 3-point range.

That didn't stop IUSB from building a 12-point lead in the third quarter and a 55-46 edge entering the fourth.

The Bees battled back in the final frame.

Even making a couple of mini-runs, the Bees still found themselves trailing 64-57 with less than three minutes to go. Then St. Ambrose made things interesting. Mel Stewart converted a three-point play, and after South Bend scored, Anna Plumer knocked down her sixth 3-pointer of the afternoon to trim the deficit to 66-63.

SAU got the ball back and Kylie Wroblewski scored inside to cut the gap to a single point. But much like Wednesday night when St. Francis hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute to hold off a St. Ambrose rally, IU South Bend buried a huge triple to regain a 69-65 lead. Wroblewski, who finished 9-of-12 from the field, was unable to finish on the Bees' next possession, leading to two Titan free throws with six seconds remaining that ended the scoring.

Wroblewski and Plumer, who was 6-of-9 from deep, each scored a team-high 20 points. Stewart came off the bench to score eight points and Avari Everts added seven. Jaynee Prestegaard totaled five points and nine rebounds. Wroblewski pulled down eight boards in the loss.

St. Ambrose, which has posted winning streaks of six and 16 games already this season, will look to go on another run when the postseason opens with CCAC Tournament quarterfinal action next Tuesday.