Chicago, Ill. - Sophomore Kiara Towles swished a tough 12-foot jumper at the buzzer, giving the Roosevelt women's basketball team a dramatic 96-94 victory over St. Francis (Ind.) on Tuesday evening in the opening round of the 2011 Saint Xavier Holiday Tournament at the Shannon Center.

The Lakers (8-6) now advance to the tournament semifinals where they will meet host #10 Saint Xavier on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 7:00 p.m. The Cougars (11-3) defeated Siena Heights 88-74 in their opening game.

The game did not seem destined for a heart-stopping finish with Roosevelt owning a nine-point lead with less than five minutes remaining. The Lady Cougars (8-5) clawed their way back into the contest, though, and eventually tied the game with 19 seconds remaining on a three-pointer by Kayla Drake.

After a timeout, the Lakers set up a final shot for leading scorer Casey Davis. Her shot in traffic with five seconds left rimmed out, but the ball went off St. Francis (Ind.) and out of bounds, giving Roosevelt the ball under its own basket with two seconds remaining. The Lakers ran the inbounds play for Towles, who flashed from the left side of the lane to the right. The sophomore caught a lob pass, turned and fired in the game-winner as time expired.

Towles was one of five Roosevelt players to score in double figures, finishing with 17 points, while also pulling down six rebounds. Davis enjoyed one of her best outings of the year with a season-high 25 points on 9-for-18 shooting. She also added seven rebounds.

Senior Alexia Tann and sophomore Erin McCaslin both scored 14 points for the Lakers. Tann led the team with six assists. McCaslin got Roosevelt going in the first half, netting four three-pointers and scoring all of her points in the first 20 minutes. Senior Peggie Parhas totaled 10 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Tori Clark gave the Lakers valuable minutes off the bench, grabbing a team-best 10 rebounds, scoring six points and dishing out five assists in 24 minutes.

Six different Lady Cougars scored in double figures, led by Kayla Mullins' 24 points.

Roosevelt won the battle on the boards, outrebounding St. Francis (Ind.), 56-43.