By: John Schild, Culver-Stockton Director of Sports Information

CANTON, Mo. - The Culver-Stockton College women's basketball team pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the basketball season Monday night at Charles Field House.

Winless in their first 10 conference games and 11 straight overall, the Wildcats got two free throws from Brianna Marzette with 3.7 seconds left to upset fourth-ranked and defending Heart of America Athletic Conference champion MidAmerica Nazarene 69-68.

C-SC, which lost to the Pioneers by 31 points (92-61) in the first meeting between the schools this year back in December, got 15 points and 13 rebounds from Kati Davis to lead the way. Marzette finished with 14 points, while Randi Lee Plunkett added 11 markers.

The victory ended a 23-game losing streak to the Pioneers dating back to Dec. 7, 2002 when the last C-SC victory occurred, a 66-60 decision at Charles Field House.

The Wildcats led 36-27 at halftime on the strength of quality shooting (46.4 percent) and a opportunistic defense that recorded 12 first half points off of seven Pioneer turnovers. Marzette netted nine of her 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, MidAmerica Nazarene struggled from the floor in the first half, making just 34.4 percent of its field goal attempts. The Pioneers missed all three 3-points attempts in the first half and was 5-of-10 from the foul line.

The Pioneers made a run in the second half and took their first lead since 14-13 as Kelsey Balcom split a pair of free throws to give the visitors a 52-51 lead with 8:40 remaining in the game.

The lead change hands 10 times in the final eight minutes with MNU holding a lead no bigger than four points and the Wildcats holding a lead no bigger than three points over that stretch. 

Tied at 64 with 2:59 to play, the lead changed hands five times over the final three minutes of game action.

Trailing 67-66, MNU's Balcom drained two free throws with 17 seconds remaining to give the Pioneers their final lead of the game.

After a timeout by the Wildcats with 13 seconds left, Marzette drove the lane and was fouled by Rachel Boan with 3.7 seconds left. She made the first free throw, and then drained the game-winner after the Pioneers used their final timeout.

MNU had a decent shot at the buzzer, but Kyleesha Weston's running 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim and caromed away at the buzzer as the Wildcat players celebrated their first conference win of the season.

C-SC (4-15, 1-10) returns to action this Saturday, Feb. 8, when they travel to Springfield, Mo., to battle Evangel University. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Ashcroft Center.