HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- There was a belief among many around the Miles women's basketball program that Friday night would be the night that the Lady Bears fortunes in the NCAA postseason would change. Appearing in its third straight Division II South Region Tournament, this team had more wins overall than previous iterations, was blessed with a higher seed, and had experience in these kinds of situations that would bode well in attempting to advance to the next round for the first time.

Unfortunately, Miles could not escape the past, which put an end to any future returns in what has been a historic season for the Lady Bears.

Miles fell into a big hole early and made a valiant run in the second half to give itself a chance going into the fourth quarter before running out of steam in an eventual 91-71 loss to No. 5-seed Nova Southeastern at SportsMED Arena in Spragins Hall. The loss eliminates the No. 4-seed Lady Bears from the national tournament and ends the season with a 25-6 mark. It was the most wins in program history for the three-time SIAC champions, who are still looking for that elusive first victory in the NCAA postseason.

Nayla Wesley scored the first post of the game and followed with a three-point play to give Miles an early 5-3 lead. But Nova (28-4) would score the next 15 points of the game in just three minutes to take the lead for good. The Sharks shot 63 percent in the first quarter and the Lady Bears turned the ball over 10 times in the opening period to help stake NSU to a 24-14 advantage after 10 minutes.

The Lady Bears shot the ball much better in the second quarter, connecting on 54 percent of their attempts. But the turnovers continued to pile up and - even worse - the Sharks took 15 more shot attempts in the period due to an efficiency on the offensive glass to put Miles in a 48-29 hole at halftime. The Nova lead was as large as 24 points in the third quarter when four of its first five makes were on 3-pointers. Things looked bleak for the Lady Bears.

But Miles finally got unlocked to close out the third quarter. The Lady Bears held the Sharks to just one field goal over the final five minutes of the period. The offense came to life, starting with a 3-ball from Samarian Franklin. Shannon Niles and Makayla Rieves were scoring on the inside and when Wesley collected her own miss and scored inside of the final minute, Miles had stormed to within 64-52 to start the fourth quarter.

The momentum has swung to the Lady Bears. But at the start of the fourth, they were unable to capitalize. When a team is behind, you can't afford to trade baskets. But that's what Miles did during the first three minutes of the final stanza. Despite making four of its first five attempts, the deficit remained at 12 points after Wesley scored with 7:15 left for a 72-60 score.

From there, though, the Sharks feasted on a Lady Bears squad that had run out of juice, drained by a furious comeback that was necessitated by the big early deficit. A 12-2 run - punctuated by two Nova buckets where the Lady Bears could not get back on defense - put the final nail in the coffin on a great season by the Lady Bears. The Sharks shot a staggering 71 percent from the field in the final period to keep the game out of reach.

Six players scored in double figures for Nova Southeastern, led by Kaliyah Morales' 20 points. Franklin had 18 points, five assists and four rebounds, Wesley had 16 points and four reboudns, Rieves had 14 points, five rebounds and five steals, and Niles added 10 points for Miles.