The Bees left it all on the court and had a shot in the air that would have won the game as the buzzer sounded. But it wasn't meant to be as St. Ambrose saw its season come to a likely end with a heartbreaking 78-76 loss to Olivet Nazarene in the CCAC Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday.

In a matchup of the No. 4 and 5 seeds, SAU trailed 70-57 with under seven minutes remaining before a Shayne Smith 3-pointer sparked a comeback.

Smith's triple, the Bees' first of the game, was immediately followed by another three, this one from Anna Plumer, to cut the deficit to 70-63. On the Bees' next possession, Kylie Wroblewski scored inside, and in less than a minute, the 13-point margin had been trimmed to 70-65.

Olivet Nazarene (20-10) answered with three quick points to rebuild a 73-65 lead with four minutes left. Another Smith 3-pointer gave SAU life and Wroblewski followed with two free throws to put the deficit at 73-70.

Trailing 76-70, inside the final 15 seconds, the furious comeback continued. Plumer hit another three and after the Tigers hit just 1-of-2 from the line, Plumer was fouled on a 3-point try and converted all three free throws to pull the Bees to within a point at 77-76 with 2.6 seconds on the clock. 

St. Ambrose immediately fouled and after ONU made only one free throw, SAU had a chance. The inbounds pass to Jaynee Prestegaard was tipped away and the ball landed in the hands of Mel Stewart, who got off a hurried three that was off the mark as time expired. And the Bees were unable to knock off the Tigers for a third time this season.

Wroblewski led all players with 25 points and 13 rebounds. She was 11-of-15 from the floor.

Smith scored 18 points and pulled down seven boards and her backcourt mate Maddy Cash had 11 points, four assists, four steals and no turnovers against the ONU pressure. Plumer finished with nine points and Stewart and Madeline Prestegaard each netted four.

St. Ambrose shot nearly 47 percent from the field and finished 12-of-13 from the line. Olivet shot less than 38 percent from the floor and connected on only 10-of-39 from beyond the arc. SAU committed 21 turnovers which led to 20 ONU points. The Bees forced only 11 turnovers to generate six points.

Olivet Nazarene will advance to a tournament semifinal at top-seed Saint Xavier Thursday night. St. Francis will host Indiana South Bend in the other semifinal.