GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Shenandoah University nearly erased a double-figure deficit in the final minutes, but a last-second half-court heave was off the mark to give Gettysburg College a 60-58 victory in a non-conference women's basketball affair inside Bream Gym on Saturday evening.

Gettysburg (7-3) received 18 points and five blocks from senior Caroline Murphy (Chatham, N.J./Chatham), who put up a dozen tallies in the second half to help hold back the Shenandoah (4-7) rally. Senior Rianna Doane (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) added 10 points and seven steals, while sophomore Emily Duggan (Marmora, N.J./Ocean City) turned in nine points and nine rebounds.

Crystal Petrus led Shenandoah with 20 points on the strength of six three-pointers. Imani Heggins recorded 14 points and Holly Chittenden chipped in with eight points and 13 rebounds.

Gettysburg never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 7-0 lead and leading by as many as 14 (26-12) in the opening half of play. The Hornets kept fighting, however, and posted the final five points of the period to pull to 30-22 at the break.

The Bullets appeared on the verge of making a run to a double-figure lead several times in the opening minutes of the final period, but once again Shenandoah refused to give in. After Gettysburg made it 41-32 on a steal and lay-up by Doane, the Hornets went on a 10-2 run with back-to-back three-pointers by Petrus slicing the deficit to just one (43-42) with 9:28 to play.

The hosts pushed back with a 14-5 run over the next seven minutes with an old-fashioned three-point play by Alyssa Isler (New Hope, Pa./New Hope-Solebury) putting the advantage back at double-figures at 57-47 with 2:42 to play.

The Hornets stormed back behind Heggins and Petrus. The duo combined for all of Shenandoah's points during an 11-2 streak with Petrus's sixth three-pointer of the day slicing the deficit to one (59-58) with just nine seconds to play.

Gettysburg managed to get the in-bounds pass to Murphy, who came into the game shooting nearly 91 percent from the charity stripe, with three seconds left. After making the first, her second attempt caromed off the back iron. The Hornets raced up the court with Heggins heaving the ball toward the rim just past mid-court as time expired. The shot was off the mark, glancing off the right side of the shot clock.

Shenandoah shot 41.5 percent from the floor (22-of-53), becoming the first team to break 40 percent against the Bullets in nearly a year. The Hornets out-rebounded the hosts 36-33. Gettysburg shot 42.1 percent from the field (24-of-57) and forced 18 turnovers.

Senior Katie Earley (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) added eight points and four rebounds, while senior Cori Younghans (Succasunna, N.J./Roxbury) turned in six points and six rebounds for Gettysburg. Isler finished with seven points.

Gettysburg returns to action at Muhlenberg College in a Centennial Conference meeting on Saturday, Jan. 11, at 2 p.m.