The Beavers last second miss preserved a 66-65 win for St. Cloud State, snapping a two-game winning streak for MSU in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play in front of 1,540 fans Saturday at Halenbeck Hall.

"It really hurt us not having a timeout late," said MSU head coach Sheila Green Gerding. "I thought our execution was poor down the stretch and we never got into what we were supposed to be in (on the last possession). It was a disappointing ending."

Minot State (11-16, 6-15) fell for the fifth time this season in games decided by four points or less and this is the second one-point loss for MSU this year. The Beavers will finish with the seventh seed in the NSIC North heading into the conference tournament starting Wednesday as MSU needed a sweep to move up. Minot State will have to wait to find out who it plays until after tomorrow's games.

The Beavers travel to Minnesota Duluth for its regular-season finale Saturday starting at 4 p.m.

On Friday, MSU took a 65-64 lead with just over a minute to play on a layup by sophomore Alex Haley (G, Libertyville, Ill.) and made two big defensive stops but could not put the Huskies (15-10, 11-10) away.

SCSU, on the other hand, had a big offensive rebound by Lexy Petermann with just under a minute to play to prolong its eventual game-winning possession as Betsy MacDonald hit a layup of her own with 41 seconds remaining.

MSU missed a shot as SCSU blocked a shot on the next possession and MSU still had life after a miss by SCSU on a front end of a one-and-one, but couldn't get a good look at the basket.

The Beavers outshot the Huskies 48.2 percent compared to just 36.4 percent, but were badly outrebounded on the offensive end. SCSU held a 40-34 edge overall and finished with 21 offensive rebounds.

"We didn't rebound well and that caught up with us," Green Gerding said.

Chelsea Nooker led all scorers with 20 and added eight rebounds in the win for SCSU. MacDonald added 13 points, while Petermann finished with eight points and eight rebounds for the Huskies.

Haley paced the Beavers with 17 points, going 7 for 11 from the floor and added two assists and two steals. Morgan Klose (Sr., G, Fairview, N.D.) finished with 15 points, hitting three 3-pointers but was limited in the second half due to an injury. She finished with three rebounds, two assists and a steal in just 19 minutes.

"Morgan was good on the offensive end – hitting 3s, hitting her stride – and she had an extra bounce in her step," said Green Gerding. "But she ends up getting undercut on a layup and it doesn't looking good (for her to play Saturday). We've got to find a way to bounce back with another less body, but we have a lot of heart."

Katie Hardy (Sr., F, Fairview, N.D.) added nine points and eight rebounds while Savana Kingsbury (Jr., F, Omaha, Neb.) pitched in with eight points and five rebounds in the loss.