St. Ambrose battled until the end but saw its season come to a close in the CCAC Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals with a 74-65 loss at Indiana South Bend Thursday night.

The Bees end the year with a 15-15 record after advancing to the semifinals for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

And after knocking off No. 2-seed St. Francis Tuesday, SAU nearly took down No. 3-seed IU South Bend.

The Bees battled back from a rough first quarter, which saw they shoot just 4-of-11 from the field and get out-rebounded 14-6. Four of the Titans' 14 rebounds came on the offensive end, allowing them to attempt seven more shots than the Bees and build a 19-10 lead.

But St. Ambrose stayed close, never allowing the lead to get into double figures. The deficit was 53-46 entering the final quarter.

The margin was still seven at 60-53 with seven minutes left before SAU made a final push.

A 3-pointer from Mary Gruber cut the lead to four and two minutes later, Olivia Harter hit a jumper to pull the Bees to within 60-58 with 4:45 remaining. The teams exchanged baskets with Caitlyn Thole's layup putting the score at 62-60 with just under three minutes left.

But that's where the Bee comeback ran out of gas.

Indiana South Bend (23-7) immediately answered with a three, and after two empty St. Ambrose possessions, the Titans tacked on four more points to go up 69-60 with only a minute left.

A Payton Calouette 3-pointer did close the gap to 71-65 with 34 seconds left but IUSB hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to close out the win.

Gruber came off the bench to lead SAU with 15 points. She hit 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. She also pulled down five rebounds.

Thole and Abby Wolter each scored 12 points. Thole added 11 rebounds and six assists. Calouette scored 11 points to give the Bees four players in double figures. She also grabbed seven boards.

Harter finished with five points, Isabella Hutchinson and Erin Jolin each scored four, and Jayla Stirgus added two.

Indiana South Bend will play Olivet Nazarene for the conference championship Saturday.