St. Ambrose battled back from a double-digit deficit to draw even with the College of the Ozarks in the early stages of the third quarter. But that was followed by a five-minute scoring drought that the Bees couldn't overcome in a 74-52 road loss Wednesday night.

The Bees were able to recover from a slow start. Abby Wolter's jumper after an offensive rebound was SAU's only basket over the game's opening six minutes as the Ozarks built a fast 12-2 lead.

After trailing by as many as 12 points, St. Ambrose was able to get it down to a 30-26 deficit at the half thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Liz Fish and Caitlyn Thole in the final minute of the second quarter. Kashell Daughty scored the first points of the second half and an Aryelle King cut the margin to a single point at 32-31 in the opening minute of the third quarter. A King free throw ultimately knotted the score at 36-36.

But that's when SAU ran into trouble. The Ozarks (8-3) went on a 12-0 run over the next five minutes as St. Ambrose missed seven straight shots from the floor. An Elly Holubar layup ended the dry spell but the Bobcats responded by scoring the final seven points of the quarter to lead 55-38 heading into the final period.

A Daughty layup cut the gap to 15 points early in the fourth but the Bees would get no closer.

SAU (0-6) shot just 32.8 percent from the field while the College of the Ozarks shot at a 49-percent clip.

Wolter led the Bees with 16 points. Thole scored 11. Fish came off the bench to scored eight points. King also finished with eight. Daughty scored four, Elly Doe had three and Holubar netted two.

Thole led the team with nine rebounds. Wolter grabbed six boards while Caroline Cool came down with four.

St. Ambrose will return to CCAC play Saturday with a game at Calumet.