Lakewood, N.J. - A pair of Jess Placher free throws with 0:03 remaining in regulation snapped a 59-59 stalemate as Georgian Court edged visiting Salem University by two points to secure the Lions their second win of the season Tuesday evening in a thrilling NCAA Division II women's basketball showdown.

The triumph bolsters GCU's record at 2-4 while the heart-breaking setback sinks Salem to 2-4 on the year.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 10-2 advantage in the first quarter when Aaliyah Dotson (Jr.-Canton, Ohio) drilled two free throws at 7:46. Salem maintained its advantage after Dotson drilled another pair from the line to give Salem a seven-point cushion (15-8) with 2:52 left in the frame.

Georgian Court proceeded to post an 11-0 spurt over the next 1:54 to jump ahead, 19-15, with 0:58 to go. Placher accounted for all 11 points with a trio of three-pointers and a put-back lay-up. Catherine Phipps drilled a three-ball of her own at the three-second mark to give the Lions a 22-17 surplus heading into the second.

In a back-and-forth second stanza, neither team trailed or led by more than three points at any time as the Tigers strutted into intermission with a slim 32-29 lead. The third quarter was a duplicate of the previous quarter, this time with Salem securing just a two-point advantage at the end of the period (42-40).

With ten ties and 17 lead changes on the night, this particular pairing was destined to wait until the final horn to select a winner. A Keishla Gilmore (Jr.-Philadelphia, Pa.) lay-in with 37 seconds left pushed Salem ahead by one at 58-57. GCU's Nijiera Addison answered at 0:17 to leap-frog the Lions to the lead at 59-58. 

A Gilmore free throw with 0:03 knotted the score at 59-all, but the Salem junior made a costly foul after missing her second effort from the charity stripe to set the stage for Placher's game-winning heroics.

"It was nice to get a win tonight," shared GCU head coach Jazz Perazic. I do love our hustle and tempo, but I would love it even more if we could play with intensity and speed, and not rush our shots. (We) shouldn't have had 20 turnovers; most of the mistakes were self inflicted. It is something that we must continue to work on. Biggest positives were (Jaelyn) Tweedy's 10 rebounds and great overall game in spite of her off-night shooting the three. Our freshman, Nerea Brajac, continues to impress. She came up with 14 rebounds of her own and caused havoc with her defensive intensity. Overall, this was a great team win. I do have high hopes and high expectations of this team and I am not happy when I know that we can perform much better than tonight's score and our record indicates. 

Destiny Thompson paced the home team with 16 points on the evening while Placher ended the night with 13 of her own. Brajac enjoyed a breakout performance for the Lions with 13 points and 14 boards to earn the freshman her first career double-double. Jaelyn Tweety fluttered her way to ten rebounds for the victors.

Isis Mance (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) dropped in a game-high 20 points for the Tigers, followed by Gilmore with her 15.

The Lions now look forward to Saturday when they open the CACC portion of their schedule with a 1:00 p.m. home contest vs. Jefferson.