The final buzzer felt like a sound effect for the collective Seattle University heart splitting. The opportunity was there for a fifth consecutive win, but two attempts whiffed at the basket giving Saint Mary's a 71-70 victory at Connolly Center.

"It's really sad because we wanted to keep it going," SU junior Brenda Adhiambo said. "We just have to focus for the next one."

Gaels senior guard Jasmine Smith nailed the winning basket off an assist from Alex Corbonel with 15 seconds remaining. SU called a timeout to draw up a play in response.

The Redhawks were set to run it, but SMC coach Paul Thomas called back-to-back timeouts and somewhere in the dead time, SU forgot what it was supposed to do. Instead of senior Talisa Rhea getting a screen or look for a dump pass inside for a possible winner with two seconds left, she missed on her own layin at the hoop.

The Gaels (7-4) tapped the ball out-of-bounds, giving the Redhawks (6-5) another chance with 0.8 seconds left. But Adhiambo's attempt missed, too.

"I'll take the blame," Seattle coach Joan Bonvicini said. "We thought we had explained things pretty well, but had a couple people in the wrong position to run a play. Without getting into any great detail, our posts were supposed to screen our guards and it didn't happen. (The second play), we were trying to see if someone could get to the basket and score."

Heads dipped momentarily at the final, a seemingly unfair finish after SU once led 12-0 in the opening half and scored 23 points on 24 SMC turnovers in the game.

"Things changed at halftime," Bonvicini said. "It became more physical and Carbonel really took it to us. It wasn't really off jumpers, it was really off penetration, so it was our defense and rebounding in the second half (that had problems) and we still had opportunities even saying that. We did a lot of good things, but we just didn't finish this one out. It's disappointing."

Smith led the Gaels with 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting. Yet Carbonel scored 17 of her 19 points and had six assists in the second half.

She was seething after SU senior Amani Butler stripped the ball from her with seconds left in the first half, racing down court for a layin as the buzzer sounded. It was the final of 16 turnovers in the half for SMC, which entered the break down 31-24 and shooting 29.6 percent from the field.

Then it was Gaels players looking at each other in disbelief.

But SU couldn't keep control, allowing 11 lead changes and seven ties after the break as SMC used 63.3 percent shooting to secure the win.

"We showed a lot, being able to stay with them," said Rhea of SMC, which was picked to finish fifth in West Coast Conference preseason polls. "We'll learn a lot from this going back and watching film — knowing we need to bring our intensity for 40 minutes. It was ugly, but we started off with a lead and playing well. We just need to tighten down toward the end of the game and get stops when we need to."

Note

• Former Washington assistant coach Greg Nared's daughter, Jackie, started for SMC. She transferred from Maryland and this is her first year of eligibility. Greg, who coached the 2010-11 season, is working for a social media start-up in Portland.

Saint Mary's 71, Seattle U 70

SAINT MARY'S — Rosenthal 1-4 1-1 3, Mauldin 4-4 2-2 10, Nared 2-6 2-2 6, Carbonel 7-13 5-5 19, Smith 8-17 0-0 21, Levesque 0-1 0-0 0, Hendricksen 0-1 0-0 0, Greco 0-0 0-0 0, Bailey 1-1 0-0 2, Hatten 3-6 0-2 8, Arter 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 27-57 10-12 71

SEATTLE UNIVERSITY — Ward 2-10 4-4 8, Sowell 3-4 4-5 10, Shephard 2-8 0-2 4, Kerfoot 2-12 0-0 5, Rhea 5-17 1-2 14, Brown 0-2 0-0 0, Butler 4-6 3-4 11, McCarthy 1-1 0-1 2, Adhiambo 5-7 6-6 16. Totals 24-67 18-24 70.

Halftime — SU 31-24. Three-point goals — SMC 7-14 (Nared 0-1, Smith 5-11, Hatten 2-2). SU 4-18 (Ward 0-4, Shephard 0-2, Kerfoot 1-5, Rhea 3-7). Fouled out — Nared, SMC. Rebounds — SMC 43 (Nared 6), Seattle U. 35 (Rhea, Butler, Adhiambo 5). Assists — SMC 13 (Carbonel 8), SU 17 (Rhea 6). Total fouls — SMC 21, SU 15. A — 282.