AUSTIN, Texas - Rhea Codio's buzzer-beating three-pointer kept the Newman women's basketball team's quest for a Heartland Conference championship alive with a 60-61 win over St. Edward's Thursday evening at the Recreation & Convocation Center in Austin, Texas. Codio led the Jets with 21 points, while Tasha Cannon added a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Tasha Cannon scored the first four points of the game, as Newman (17-7, 7-1 Heartland) scored on each of its first two possessions to take an early 4-0 lead in the first minute of the game. St. Edward's (8-16, 1-7 Heartland) answered by scoring the next six points of the game to take a 6-4 lead over the next minute. The Hilltoppers extended that lead to 11-6 two minutes later. St. Edward's led until the 12-minute mark, when Bobbi Coleman converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Jets a 14-13 lead, and capped an 8-2 Newman run. After exchanging buckets and the lead for the next three minutes, Newman took a five-point, 22-17, lead after a Celeste Key lay-up with 8:50 still to play in the opening half, but again the Hilltoppers countered with five-straight to force a 22-22 tie at the 7:15 mark. Nikita Norwood's lay-up on the next possession gave the Jets a 24-22 lead before a three-minute scoring drought occurred. A pair of Cannon free throws broke that scoreless streak, and sparked an 8-4 spurt that gave the Jets a 30-26 lead at halftime.

The Hilltoppers needed all of 90 seconds to tie the game in the second half. St. Edward's held Newman scoreless for the first three minutes of the final frame, but couldn't find a way to take the lead during that time. Neither team was able to separate themselves in the early stages of the second half. The first 10 minutes saw four ties, and neither team led by more than three points during that period. The final 10 minutes wasn't much different. Newman finally made its move, breaking a 47-47 tie with a 9-3 run, capped by a Rhea Codio trey that gave the Jets a 56-50 lead with 2:57 remaining. But again, the Hilltoppers refused to die on their home court. St. Edward's reeled off eight-straight points, and took a 58-56 lead with 28 seconds left, but Cannon nailed a pair of free throws to force another tie, 58-58, with 15 second remaining. The Hilltoppers looked to have won the game when Shanae Lowrance sunk a lay-up with four seconds to play, but Codio got the last laugh, draining a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Newman the 61-60 win.

Codio led the Jets with 21 points in the contest, and added six points, four assists, and three steals in the process. Tasha Cannon was Newman's only other double-digit scorer, finishing with 17 points and 12 rebounds in the game.

Brittany Ward led St. Edward's with 20 points as the only double-digit scorer for the Hilltoppers.

With the win, Newman improves to 17-7 on the season, and 7-1 in Heartland Conference play. The Jets will have a chance to clinch Newman's first Heartland Conference regular season championship Saturday, when they travel to Odessa, Texas, to take on the Texas-Permian Basin Falcons. Tip-time at the Falcon Dome is slated for 2 p.m..