WASHINGTON, D.C. - The final regular-season and home Capital Athletic Conference game for the Gallaudet University women's basketball program will go down in the books as a thriller with a picture perfect moment at the end.

Gallaudet coach Kevin Cook had to make some adjustments at halftime as the Bison trailed St. Mary's (Md.) College by three, 36-33, after leading the game by seven points midway through the first half. Cook changed out his black suit and into an all-pink stripped suit to go with his pink shirt and tie he had donned for Gallaudet's Pink Zone night an initiative run by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association to raise awareness for breast cancer. The Bison team wore special pink uniforms while many of the 250 fans in attendance sported something pink as well.

The wardrobe change helped to spark the Bison (12-11, 7-9 CAC) in the second half where they outscored the Seahawks (8-14, 7-7 CAC) 32-28 and held onto win the game in the final seconds by one point, 65-64, on Wednesday evening.

Gallaudet is on the verge of making the CAC tournament for the first time since the 2006-07 season and the first in the Coach Cook era. GU will need some help going into the final weekend of the regular-season. The Bison are the first team to complete their 16-game conference schedule and GU is currently sixth overall. The CAC tournament only takes the top six teams out of the nine in the conference, the format changed last year. To secure the playoff berth the Bison will need Salisbury University (9-14, 6-9 CAC) to lose on Saturday against University of Mary Washington (18-4, 13-1 CAC).

GU is leaving the CAC after this season to join the North Eastern Athletic Conference. Gallaudet is one of the charter members of the CAC that began in 1989.

The Bison leaned on junior center Easter Faafiti (Pittsburg, Calif.) to carry the load as Gallaudet was without the services of three starters. Faafiti didn't disappoint as she recorded her 14th double-double with a game-high 28 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists as she shot 13-for-19 from the field.

Faafiti's supporting cast stepped up against St. Mary's as junior center Nukeitra Hayes (Anderson, Ind.) exploded for 12 points in the second half as she finished with 19 points, six rebounds and two assists. Freshman guard Ann Whited (Fishers, Ind.) chipped in nine points and four rebounds. The trio contributed 86 percent of Gallaudet's offense as they netted 56 of the 65 points.

The game came down to the wire as St. Mary's cut the Gallaudet lead to one, three different times, in the final two and a half minutes. Senior guard Steph Saint-Aubin (24 points, 12 rebounds, four steals) sank two free throws with 46 seconds left in the game as the Seahawks trailed by one, 65-64.

Freshman Maddie Morgan (Wilmington, Del.) had a chance to increase the Bison lead as she went to the foul line with 11 seconds left in the game. She missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and allowed St. Mary's freshman forward Taylor Petrisko to come down with the rebounds. SMC used a team timeout with eight seconds to draw up a game-winning play. The Seahawks placed the ball in the hands of their leading scorer Saint-Aubin but her shot couldn't find the bottom of the net as Whited came down with the final board as time expired.

The Bison bench stormed the court as Coach Cook led the jubilant charge as teammates hugged and exchanged high fives. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and gave GU only its third win in the past 10 games.

Gallaudet pulled off the win despite losing to the Seahawks in several statistical categories such as rebounds (37-27), assists (15-9), steals (14-11), turnovers (18-22) and second-chance points (24-13). What helped the Bison was their team shooting percentage of 57.7 percent (30-for-52) and an improvement at the free-throw line where Gallaudet made over 57 percent of its attempts. GU also outscored St. Mary's by 14 in the paint, 46-32. The Seahawks were held to 40.6 percent shooting from the field (26-for-64).

The loss ends a three-game winning streak for St. Mary's who had three players reach double figures. Alex Wenger netted 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Pui Sham added 11 points.

This has been a difficult stretch for Gallaudet as it has been hard to replace the three aforementioned starters; senior forward Brittainy Payne (Pine Hill, N.J.), sophomore guard Andrea Amati (Frederick, Md.) and freshman guard Shaquana McDonough (Pembroke, Mass.). The three players have missed a combined 15 games due to injury and/or illness since the end of January. In a six-game stretch, the Bison allowed an average of 71.5 points and scored only 49.6 points compared to the numbers before January 27 where GU allowed only 54.7 points and scored 61.6 in the 17 games. The loss of the three starters, who produced 24.4 points for the Bison per game, has left a void. Cook has been forced to go deeper down his bench as the Bison currently utilize a seven-player rotation.

Gallaudet has two non-conference games left on its 2009-10 regular-season schedule before the start of the CAC tournament on Tuesday, February 23. First thing first is tomorrow's road game against Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., at 6 p.m. The Bison won a meeting with the Crusaders back on November 23 as GU cruised to a 72-26 win.