SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Women's Basketball battled back from a 17-point halftime deficit and pushed the NAIA Division II's No. 23-ranked team, St. Ambrose (Iowa), before falling 92-88 Thursday night in TLU's Memorial Gymnasium.

TLU (3-3) out-scored St. Ambrose (7-5) 37-21 in the first 12:15 of the second half and closed within one point, at 75-74. TLU had two shots to take the lead when trailing by one, but both shots within five feet failed to go down.

St. Ambrose turned the one-point lead into a 12-point edge over the next three minutes. Katie Jensen scored seven of the Bees' next 11 points as the lead grew to 86-74 with 4:13 to play.

TLU's Savannah Hight (San Antonio/Brandeis) hit a three-pointer to bring TLU within six points with less than a minute remaining, and Karisa Cantu (San Antonio/MacArthur) scored on a lay-up with 37 seconds to play as again TLU cut the St. Ambrose lead to six.

The Bulldogs made it a three-point game on a Cantu lay-up with two seconds on the clock.

Lauren Cash hit one of two free throws with less than two seconds to play and put the game out of reach.

Cash led all players with 25 points. The St. Ambrose guard made nine of her 17 shots and connected on five of her eight three-point attempts.

Cash was joined in double figures by Katie Jensen (13), Shelby Steger (11) and Devan Griffin (10). Jensen added 11 rebounds, two blocks and three steals.

TLU freshman forward Kristen Lye (San Antonio/Clark) led the Bulldogs in scoring. Lye poured in 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor. She added a 7-of-8 performance at the free throw line. Lye also grabbed a team-best nine rebounds.

Cantu chipped in 22 points for the Bulldogs. The junior point guard made all four of her three-pointers and seven of her 10 total shots. She recorded three steals and a block.

TLU made 11 of 21 from long range, and St. Ambrose made 11 of 22 from the arc. Bulldog guard Natalie Vella (Corpus Christi/Moody) made four of her six shots from the three-point line. She finished with 12 points.

The Bulldogs finished the game at 46.8 percent shooting overall, and St. Ambrose made 47.7 percent of its shots.

St. Ambrose and TLU were tied at 33 with 4:05 left in the first half. St. Ambrose went on a 17-0 run to push the lead to 50-33. The run extended fully to 19-2 as the Bees took a 52-35 lead into halftime.

TLU must make the quick transition to its next game, a 1 p.m. home contest Friday against College of Wooster (Ohio). TLU will have live video and live stats from tlubulldogs.com.