CROOKSTON, Minn. – Emily Gruber sank a three-pointer with 3.8 seconds remaining to send the University of Minnesota Crookston women's basketball team to a 78-76 win over St. Cloud State University. Gruber, who came into the game shooting 12 percent from beyond the arc on the season, did not hesitate as she popped the three-point shot and put the Golden Eagles up with 3.8 seconds left. St. Cloud State would turn the ball over in the final seconds to preserve the UMC victory.

Gruber's shot also catapulted UMC Head Coach Mike Roysland to his 100^th career collegiate win. Roysland is the first Golden Eagle coach in the NSIC era to reach the 100-win mark. He has been with the Golden Eagles for 11 years after a successful run in the high school ranks at Fosston High School and Win-E-Mac High School.

The Golden Eagles improve to 3-10 (3-6 NSIC) with the win. They sit in sixth place in the NSIC North, just one game behind University of Mary in fifth. St. Cloud State falls to 7-7 (5-5 NSIC) with Saturday's loss.

Minnesota Crookston was led by the play of Isieoma Odor (R-So., F/C, Bloomington, Minn.). Odor came off the bench for the second-consecutive game and put on one of her strongest performances of her young career. Odor had 22 points on 10-of-11 from the field. She would finish with a near double-double after securing nine rebounds, four on the offensive end. Odor concluded a great weekend, in which she averaged 20.5 points and nine rebounds in two games.

Paige Weakley (Fr., G/F, Kearney, Mo.) would come off the bench for her best game of the season. Weakley had 14 points on 3-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Alison Hughes (So., G, Janesville, Wis.) struggled from the field, but finished with 14 points including a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. She also had five boards.

Micaela Noga (Jr., G, Parkers Prairie, Minn.) added 10 points, while Gruber had eight points and six rebounds.

Stephanie McWilliams (Fr., G, Grand Forks, N.D.) got her second-consecutive start and added strong defense and three assists. UMC ran with a small line-up, which proved effective Saturday as they rotated both Gruber and Odor at the post position and ran with essentially four guards in most instances.

The Golden Eagles would shoot 25-of-61 from the field for 41.0 percent on the night. They shot 8-of-22 for 36.4 percent from beyond the arc and 20-of-23 for 87 percent from the charity stripe. UMC would move the ball well on the night as they had 16 assists to nine turnovers.

Amanda Christianson led the way for St. Cloud State with 26 points on 11-of-16 from the field and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Betsy MacDonald added 17 points. Chelsea Nooker would finish with nine points and seven boards, while Brianna Johnson had nine points and eight boards.

The Huskies would shoot 31-of-74 for 41.9 percent from the field. They were 10-of-23 for 43.5 percent from beyond the arc. St. Cloud State struggled from the charity stripe as they were just 4-of-9 for 44.4 percent.

St. Cloud State would race out to an early 14-4 lead in the first quarter after a Johnson bucket. UMC would be able to cut into the advantage as they got it down to 22-19 following a Noga trey with 1:14 left in the quarter. The Huskies would go into the quarter break up 24-21.

St. Cloud State would go up 27-21 on the first bucket of the second quarter as Christianson nailed a trey. UMC would respond as they went on an 8-0 run culminating in a McWilliams fastbreak bucket to put UMC up 29-27. The Huskies would quickly respond and knot it up 29-29 on a Pratt basket. They would go up 31-29 after another Pratt bucket, before UMC would take the lead back 34-31 following a trey from Hughes and a layup from Odor.

UMC would extend their lead to 37-31 after a Kitri Zezza (Fr., G, Albertville, Minn.) three-pointer with 2:45 left in the second quarter. St. Cloud State would cut the deficit to 37-34 after an Andrea Thomas free throw. UMC would get the lead back out to 40-34 on a Weakley trey, before Thomas put up a buzzer beater as the Golden Eagles went into the break ahead 40-37.

The Huskies would cut the lead to 40-39 after a Christianson bucket out of the gate. UMC would lead 43-39 after a Noga three, but St. Cloud State would come right back and take the 44-43 advantage on a Christianson trey.

The two teams would play a game of see-saw before UMC built a lead of 56-50 after a pair of Weakley free throws. St. Cloud State would get back within three pointers after a MacDonald jumper going into the quarter break, but UMC still led 60-57.

UMC would build their lead to 63-57 after an old-fashioned three-pointer play from Weakley to open the fourth quarter. However, St. Cloud State came charging back and would knot it up 63-63 after a Thomas bucket with 8:11 remaining in the game.

The two teams would get caught on the teeter-totter again for the next couple of minutes before UMC would build their lead to 69-65 after a pair of Hughes free throws.

St. Cloud State would get within one after a Christianson trey with 3:39 left, but UMC responded with points in the paint from Odor to go up 71-68. UMC would build their lead to 73-68 on a pair of Gruber free throws with 1:59 left.

The Huskies would chomp away at the lead and take it away as Christianson and MacDonald both hit three-pointers to make it 74-73 with 55 seconds left. UMC would take the lead back 75-74 after a Hughes bucket with 24 seconds.

However, St. Cloud State would respond with a Christianson bucket to make it 76-75 with under 10 seconds remaining. That is when UMC responded in the form of Gruber's three-pointer that was on the money as the Golden Eagles would come away with the 78-76 win.

Minnesota Crookston will hit the road Tues., Jan. 10 to play Bemidji State University at 6 p.m. The game will be at the Sanford Center, which is normally BSU's hockey arena, but which has been converted to host basketball for this weekend's Beaver games and Tuesday's games.