HARROGATE, Tenn. -- Down 66-64 with less than four seconds left in the game, senior Britney Guy (Locust Grove, Ga.) hit a 40 foot three-pointer as time expired to give the Lady Railsplitters (15-9, 12-7 SAC) the 67-66 win over Mars Hill (13-11, 12-7 SAC) Wednesday night in the Tex Turner Arena.

The win, along with a Lenoir-Rhyne win over Newberry, creates a four-way logjam for second place in the South Atlantic Conference standings with two weeks to go before the confernece tournament begins.

Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) led LMU with 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Guy had 11 points and Kiara Rawls (Killeen, Texas) added in 10 points. For the game, LMU shot 42.4% (28-66) from the field, 33.3% (5-15) from behind the three-point arc and 54.5% from the free throw line. The Lady Railsplitters out-rebounded their opponent for the 21st time this season as they held a 38-27 advantage in that category.

Both teams were cold at the start, with the Lady Railsplitters holding a 6-5 lead at the first quarter media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, a Candice Wilmoth jumper sparked a Lion run that saw them take a 20-13 lead at the end of the first frame.

Mars Hill maintained their lead throughout the rest of the first half, leading by as much as nine points before LMU put together a run of their own to cut the lead to 32-30 with 37 seconds remaining on the short jumper by Dasia Maxwell (Knoxville, Tenn.). Mars Hill's Paige Chavis then hit Kelsey Espinoza in the paint with two seconds left to give the Lions the 34-30 lead at the half.

The Lady Railsplitters came out in the third and quickly tied the game with four quick points from Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio). Mars Hill would go back up by four before a Guy layup cut it to 42-40 at the 3:55 mark. LMU then went cold for the next three minutes, allowing the Lions to build the lead back up to seven points. A three-pointer by Sydnie Anderson (Cleveland, Tenn.) cut the lead to 49-46 heading into the fourth quarter.

Baskets by Harding and Pittman and another trey by Anderson put LMU up 53-49 with 6:59 left in the game. LMU then went up by five points only to see the Lions claw their way back to a 62-61 lead off an Espinosa jumper in the lane with 1:41 remaining. A free throw by Harding would tie the game for the next 40 seconds before Wilmoth put the Lions up 64-62 with 33 seconds to go. Espinsosa fouled Anderson on the next possession, but she would miss both free throws. However, Rawls grabbed the rebound of the second missed free throw and drove into a crowd of Lions to tie the game at 65-65 with eight seconds left.

After a timeout to advance the ball, Lane found Chavis under the basket where she hit the layup to give Mars Hill the 66-64 lead with 3.2 seconds remaining and LMU out of timeouts. The home crowd of over 800 held their collective breaths as Guy then took the inbounds, drove around a defender to just past mid-court and threw up a shot as time expired that hit nothing but the bottom of the net, sparking a celebration by her teammates and the LMU cheer and dance teams at midcourt that lasted for several minutes.

Wilmoth led the Lions with 16 points and six rebounds. Ansley Ricker added in 15 points, Lane had 14 and Espinosa 13. Mars Hill shot 47.9% (23-48) from the field, 50% (4-8) from three-point range and 88.9% (16-18) from the free throw line.

Quick Hits
The win was only the second three-point buzzer-beater by the Lady Railsplitters in the Turner Arena during it's 25 year history. The other was a 89-86 double overtime win over West Florida on Feb. 1, 1997 that was won by a Heather Brown three-pointer from 50 feet out.... LMU improves to 14-11 over the Lions all-time and 8-4 in Harrogate.... Pittman currently has 573 points and 481 rebounds and is 19 rebounds away from becoming the ninth member of the 500 point-500 rebounds club.... Points off turnovers - LMU 17, MHU 17.... Points in the paint - LMU 40, MHU 20.... Second chance points - LMU 12, MHU 9.... Fast break points - LMU 10, MHU 0.... Bench points - LMU 24, MHU 1.

Up Next
LMU will travel on the road to Queens for a Saturday 2 p.m. tip-off. Saturday's game marks the start of a two-game road swing for the Lady Railsplitters, who also play at Anderson next Wednesday evening before returning home for thr regular season finale on Feb. 27 vs. Catawba. The game at Queens will be Queens' Play4Kay game, which helps to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Funs. This game has a special meaning as Queens Coach Susan Yow is the sister of Kay Yow. Queens comes into the contest with a 4-20 overall record and a 2-17 SAC record, including a 73-58 loss at Catawba earlier this evening.