HOUSTON, Texas - The Austin College women's basketball team saw its second half rally come up just short at the University of St. Thomas on Sunday, falling 87-78 to the Celts in the team's final game of the regular season. The 'Roos are 21-4 overall and 14-4 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play as they head into this weekend's tournament.

The 'Roos struggled to get their offense going early on, hitting just 8-of-28 shots in the first half. The 'Roos took a 12-11 lead after the opening quarter, but the Celts erupted for 28 points in quarter number two to take a 39-24 lead into halftime. Austin College finally got things going offensively in the third quarter, scoring 27 points in the frame and cutting the margin to 57-51 heading to the fourth. 

Austin College whittled the St. Thomas lead down to 74-71 on a basket by Reagan Chiaverini with just over two minutes left to play, but that's as close as things would get as the Celts responded with a 12-2 run to go on top 86-73 with 18 seconds left to put the game away. The 'Roos poured in 54 second half points, shooting 51.4% from the field after halftime and Chiaverini scored 18 of her 21 points in the final two quarters. She also pulled down seven rebounds in the loss. Natalie McCoy led the 'Roos with 23 points, knocking down 15-of-17 free throw attempts to lead the 'Roos in scoring. Kacie West hit 4-of-5 threes on her way to 18 points, and Addison Walling grabbed a team-best nine rebounds.

Austin College will head to Kerrville this weekend for the SCAC Tournament, where they enter as the No. 2-seed and await the winner of Friday's Colorado College versus Southwestern quarterfinal. The 'Roos will take on the winner on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in the conference semifinals.