St. Ambrose made several fourth-quarter runs but came up short in a 68-60 setback to St. Francis (Ill.) in the CCAC opener for both teams at Lee Lohman Arena Tuesday night.

The Bees, who fell behind by as many as 14 at 55-41 in the closing minutes of the third quarter, made things interesting down the stretch. After an Abby Wolter three-point play trimmed the deficit to 55-44 entering the final frame, SAU got as close as four points in the fourth.

Down 58-52, Caitlyn Thole and Elly Holubar each made 1-of-2 from the line around a Caroline Cool layup. After a Fighting Saints basket, Thole again connected on one free throw before Aryelle King buried a 3-pointer to close the gap to 60-56 with just over five minutes remaining.

But then the Bees' rally ran out of gas. 

SAU missed its next seven shots from the floor. The team's only points over that five-minute stretch were two Wolter free throws. Wolter finally got a layup to drop but that came in the final 10 seconds after St. Francis (4-3, 1-0 CCAC) had restored a double-digit advantage.

St. Ambrose shot just 36 percent from the field and was less than 59 percent from the line, converting just 10-of-17 free throws.

Wolter and Thole each had big nights offensively. Wolter scored a game-high 21 points to go along with six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Thole scored 19 while grabbing nine boards and handing out a pair of assists.

Kashell Daughty narrowly missed double figures, finishing with eight points. King scored seven. Daughty and King each pulled down six rebounds. 

Holubar and Cool combined for five points off the Bee bench.

St. Ambrose (0-3, 0-1 CCAC) will visit Olivet Nazarene next Wednesday.