For a moment, the Lincoln women's basketball team thought they had the lead with :02.5 left.
Khadijah Ellison drove in for a layup and a foul for what would have been a 66-64 lead Thursday against No. 20 Central Oklahoma. But the foul was called on the floor, keeping the game tied at 64.
The free throws were off the mark while the Bronchos made their free throws at the other end to win 66-64 at Jason Gym.
Olivia Mason, who led the Bronchos with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, grabbed the rebound off Ellison's second missed free throw and Lincoln was called for a foul with :1.1 on the clock.
Mason made both free throws and Hunter Yoakum's 3-pointer from just in front of the end of the scorer's table bounced off the rim, handing Lincoln its eighth straight loss and 12th straight conference defeat.
"She got a really good look at it," Lincoln coach Ayana McWilliams said. "I wish she could have been maybe a half-inch closer to the basket, but again we live with it. It was a good look, we took our best shot, just live with the result."
A win would have been the Blue Tigers' first in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association since Jan. 30, 2016 at Northeastern State.
"I think they played their (butt) off, they played their (butt) off from start to finish," McWilliams said. "Obviously there are a couple of things that we thought probably could have went a little different for us, but at the end of the day we told them to keep their heads up, keep that bite and come back tomorrow and get ready for Saturday."
Oddly enough, the Blue Tigers host Northeastern State at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Two of Lincoln's four MIAA wins last season came against the RiverHawks.
Before Saturday's game, Lincoln will get in plenty of practice at the free throw line. The Blue Tigers were 12-of-21 (57.1 percent) at the line Thursday.
"Seventy-eight percent is our goal everyday, everyday 78 percent," McWilliams said. "If we shoot 78 percent from the free throw line tonight, it's a whole different ball game."
The Bronchos made 16-of-18 at the line Thursday, including all six of their attempts in the fourth quarter.
Central Oklahoma only shot 21-of-73 (28.8 percent) from the field compared to 24-of-68 (35.3 percent) for Lincoln.
After making just 3-of-18 in the third quarter to trail 46-39 heading into the fourth quarter, the Blue Tigers made 10-of-19 in the final 10 minutes to close the gap.
The Bronchos led by 10 following a Mason 3-pointer with 8:31 left. But Yoakum answered with a quick layup to start a 14-2 run, ending with a bucket for Erica Gibbons to give Lincoln a 55-53 lead with 5 minutes left. It was Lincoln's first lead since it was 8-7 at the 6:14 mark of the first quarter.
Central Oklahoma then scored the next seven points, including two layups by Hayley Bryan.
A pair of free throws with 1:11 left made it 64-61 Central Oklahoma. Yoakum stole an inbound pass near midcourt following a timeout and Ellison converted a three-point play to tie it with :39.6 left.
Yoakum had three of Lincoln's 11 steals.
"I thought we played tremendous on both sides of the basketball," McWilliams said. "On the defensive end, we were hungry."
At halftime, Yoakum was presented a basketball commemorating her milestone of 1,000 career points. Yoakum reached the mark Dec. 17 at Emporia State. She ranks fourth on Lincoln's all-time scoring list with 1,024 points.
Gibbons was Lincoln's top scorer with 16 points, finishing in double figures for the ninth straight game.
Lincoln (1-11, 0-5 MIAA) got plenty of contribution off the bench as Ellison scored 12 points and McCaskill added 11.
Nine of the 10 players who stepped on the floor for Lincoln scored.
"I thought our rotation was good," McWilliams said. "Everybody came off the bench and contributed. We did well all the way around."