JOLIET, Ill. -- A closing 16-9 run by St. Ambrose University (Iowa) put an end to the University of St. Francis women's basketball team's 2025-26 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Tuesday night in opening-round play. The No. 7-seeded Fighting Bees rallied for a 68-66 victory to upset the No. 2-seeded Fighting Saints.
SAU's Caitlyn Thole capped off an outstanding personal performance with the final two points of the game on a pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining. The senior guard accounted for 16 of the Bees' points, while Jayla Stirgus finished the game with a team-high 14 markers, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter when she accounted for 10 of SAU's 16 points in their closing run. Abby Wolter authored a team-high 21 points.
No other Bee had more than five points.
USF (25-4) was led by
Tykara Harrison's game-high 23 points and 14 rebounds from
Symone Harrell. Harrell also registered 11 points on the offensive end in recording her third double-double of the season, while
Le'lani Harris (16 points) and
Coryn Fromm (10) combined for 26 more markers for USF.
St. Francis (25-4) did have three final tries in the closing 15 seconds following Thole's two free throws but a missed three pointer and layup followed by two missed three throws with two seconds remaining solidified the 68-66 final score.
Both teams struggled to find their offensive games throughout the first 10 minutes with neither unit shooting better than 35 percent for the quarter. By halftime, St. Francis held a slight 35-32 edge after going 6-for-14 from the field (42.9 pct.) with six free throws to SAU's 8-of-14 reading (57.1 pct.). The Bees did not register any additional points from the charity stripe.
After connecting on three of their first five shots to start the second half, the St. Ambrose (15-14) would cut their deficit to two points at the 6:04 mark of the third quarter before the Saints went on a 7-2 run over the next three minutes sparked by five points from Harrison to open up a 48-41 advantage.
That lead would hold steady for two minutes into the final period before Sturgis took over. She accounted for 10 of St. Ambrose's final 16 points with a three-pointer, two layups and a perfect 3-for-3 effort at the foul line.
USF, meanwhile, turned the ball over six time and managed only two field goals in ten attempts in the closing eight-minute stretch to go along with a 5-of-9 showing from the free throw line. The Saints' last field goal came with 2:02 remaining to put them up 64-62.
After going 0-for-2 on free throws in the first half, the Bees went 9-for-11 after the intermission. USF was 1-for-6 from beyond the arc in the closing 20 minutes after hitting 5-of-12 from that range in the opening half. Turnovers played a key role in the outcome with SAU forcing 20 USF turnovers, which resulted in a 25-12 scoring differential in favor of the Bees.
Up Next
With the loss, the Saints must now wait to see if they will be eligible to extend their postseason run after the completion of the CCAC Tournament. As the No. 2-seed, USF will need No. 1-seed Olivet Nazarene University to win the tournament crown as the Tigers already secured their at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament as the league's regular season champion. Per league by-laws, if the regular season champion also wins the tournament, the second-place regular season finisher gains the league's second bid.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
