This week's trip to Northern California marks the first half of Golden State Athletic Conference play of the OUAZ women's basketball team. The playoff race is heating up, and the Spirit had a perfect opportunity to strengthen its conference tournament hopes. OUAZ had the key victory in its grasp, but was unable to hold on as they fell to William Jessup 76-75 on Thursday night in Rocklin, Calif.

The Spirit were doomed by its free throw shooting down the stretch, as they missed three free throws in the final 13 seconds that could have sealed the victory. After a pair of missed free throws from Mai'Zhrae Zeno, William Jessup called a time out, and took the lead thanks to a Miranda Zaragoza layup with a little over one second remaining. The Spirit were unable to get a shot off in the miniscule time left, and it marked the third loss in the last five games for OUAZ.

Despite the tough finish, Zeno had an outstanding performance. She scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds, falling shy of her second double-double in three games. She also shot 5-8 from the field on the night.
Natasa Radovic did secure another double-double with her 21 point, 11 rebound night. Both point and rebound totals led the Spirit on Thursday, and Radovic also had two assists, two steals and a block.

The loss now drops the Spirit out of a playoff position, but a win on Saturday against Menlo can jump them up into fifth. As it sits, Hope International is tied for sixth with OUAZ in conference record (3-5), but holds the tiebreaker thanks to the Royals' win in Surprise last week.

The Spirit will be back on the court Saturday, as it tries to right the ship against Menlo College. Tipoff from Atherton, Calif. is scheduled for 3pm MST.