FORT SMITH, Ark. – St. Edward's women's basketball dropped its first Heartland Conference contest Saturday on a buzzer-beating shot in a 66-63 loss to UA Fort Smith.
 
SHAKERA BARNES finished the game with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. LEXI FATHEREE and BAILEY HILL scored in double digits as well with 15 points and 10 points, respectively.
 
St. Edward's (10-6, 6-1 Heartland) remains in first place by half a game in the Heartland Conference standings. UA Fort Smith (10-7, 5-2 Heartland) breaks the Hilltoppers eight-game winning streak with the victory.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• ABBY HOPPER drained a 3-pointer to give St. Edward's a 9-6 lead early in the first quarter.
• The Lady Lions responded with an 8-2 run to close the period, taking a 17-13 lead.
• UA Fort Smith stretched its lead to seven in the second quarter before Barnes sparked a 9-1 run to give the Hilltoppers a 30-29 advantage at the half. 
• SEU outscored UAFS 17-16 in the third period to hold a 47-45 edge heading into the final quarter.
• Fatheree drained a pair of free throws with 22 seconds remaining to tie the game.
• UA Fort Smith called a timeout with two seconds to play that resulted in a game-winning 3-pointer from Zhanesha Dickerson.
• Extensive official review confirmed the made basket to clinch the win for UAFS.

 
HILLTOPPER NOTES

• The Hilltoppers are 1-3 in their last four meetings against Fort Smith and 7-10 all-time against the Lady Lions.
• Barnes has recorded double-digit points in four of her last five games, and leads the team in scoring (14.4 ppg) and assists (5.9 apg).
• Fatheree has scored 100 points in eight games and 162 minutes of action.

 
QUOTE BOARD: HEAD COACH J.J. RIEHL
"We put ourselves in a bad situation. When we are on the road we can't be in a situation where someone has the opportunity to win. They hit a really difficult shot to win the game, but it wasn't that shot. I think the bigger issue was our lack of defensive intensity in the fourth quarter. However, we can't make this bigger than what it is. It's one loss. We have to get back to us defensively and we'll bounce back against Lubbock Christian Thursday.
 
UP NEXT
St. Edward's returns home Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. matchup against Lubbock Christian inside the Recreation and Convocation Center. Tickets will be available at the door. Live stats and video will be available at GoHilltoppers.com.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: UA Fort Smith 66, St. Edward's 63
Records: St. Edward's (10-6, 6-1 Heartland), UA Fort Smith (10-7, 5-2 Heartland)
Leading Scorers: St. Edward's-Barnes (16), UA Fort Smith-Perry (19)
Attendance: 534
 
HEARTLAND CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Team                       Conference                Overall
St. Edward's             6-1                              10-6
St. Mary's                  5-1                              13-3
Lubbock Christian     4-1                               9-7
UA Fort Smith           5-2                               10-7
Oklahoma Christian  3-3                               8-10
Newman                    2-3                              12-5
Rogers State             1-5                              5-11
TAMU-International  1-5                               1-15
Panhandle State       0-6                              1-13
 
 
For the latest information on the St. Edward's University Women's Basketball team, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @SEUWBasketball, or visit us at www.GoHilltoppers.com.