WINONA, Minn. — Four seconds.

That was all that stood between the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team and a streak-snapping victory over Hamline.

In those last four seconds, however, the Pipers not only got off a shot, but also pulled down the rebound and Shelby Hyllengren made the put-back, giving the Pipers a 57-56 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win — and sending the Cardinals to their third straight loss.

"If the game were four seconds shorter, we'd be celebrating right now," said SMU coach Shawn Stimmel, whose team picked up a 59-50 win over St. Thomas last Saturday, but then dropped back-to-back-to-back games to Saint Benedict, Macalester and Hamline in a seven-day span. "We did not play all that well — we played OK, but not great — and came up short, it's that simple."

Kelly Tanke (La Crosse, Wis.) and Jessica Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) were a potent 1-2 punch for the Cardinals in the second half, as the two accounted for SMU's last 20 points — including a Weisbrod three-point play that gave Saint Mary's its first lead of the second half, 52-51.

Tanke knocked down the final two of her team-high 18 points to give the Cardinals a 56-55 lead with four seconds remaining, but SMU was unable to haul in the rebound off a Hamline miss, and Hyllengren laid the ball in at the buzzer to seal the Piper win.

"It's always tough to lose, but it hurts even more to lose like that," said Stimmel, whose team trailed 30-25 at the half. "I was very happy with the way we kept battling in that second half. We never let up and we kept working. Once Kelly made that shot (to give SMU the lead), it looked like the ladies were going to be rewarded for that hard work.

"Unfortunately, a win just wasn't in the cards."