The Ursuline College basketball team nearly pulled off a dramatic upset of second-place Kentucky Wesleyan on the road in the regular season finale before falling 77-72.
 
For the second straight game, the Arrows got off to a slow start offensively that allowed the Panthers to build a 12-3 lead with 7:32 to play in the opening quarter. The lead grew to 17-3 before Alyssa Evans finished a layup and Madison Cloonan hit a jump shot to make it 19-9.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan led 25-18 after one quarter.
 
Morgan Mattimore began to heat up in the second quarter with back-to-back baskets to make it 29-24 with 5:18 to play in the first half. Another bucket by Mattimore and a three-pointer from Michaela Cloonan made it 30-29 with under 3:30 to play. Ursuline took its first lead of the game on a Mattimore jumper in the paint at 33-32 with 2:12 to play in the half.
 
The final two minutes featured three different ties and the Arrows taking a 38-37 lead into the intermission.
 
The second half went back and forth for most of the third and fourth quarters. The Panthers pulled out to a six-point advantage at 70-64 with 3:30 to play in the game and eventually extended it to eight before an Evans three-pointer helped close the gap back to three at 72-69 with :51 seconds to play. Evans hit another three-pointer in the final seconds, but the Panthers made free throws to clinch the victory.
 
Ursuline was paced by Mattimore and Evans who finished with 16 points each while Bekah Green added 14 points and Cloonan added 13 points and nine boards. Madison Cloonan finished with six points and a team high 10 rebounds.
 
The Arrows shot 50 percent (30-of-60) from the field and were 8-of-24 from behind the three-point line while the Panthers shot 43 percent (27-of-63) and were 6-of-24 from deep. The rebounding battle was even at 32 each but the Arrows turned the ball over 22 times to just 14 for KWC.
 
With the loss, Ursuline narrowly missed the final Great Midwest Tournament spot as Malone claimed the eighth and final seed.