NEW YORK, N.Y. - With three seconds on the clock, Monmouth's Nyaimah Ware stole the ball and hit a jumper with .6 seconds left in the game to lift the Hawks over Columbia, 56-54.

With 30.4 seconds left in the game and the score tied at 54, the Hawks took the ball down the court to try and win the game. Monmouth couldn't get a shot off and with three seconds on the clock, the Lions' Brittney Carfora came up with a steal, but Ware was right there. Ware stole the ball back and with .6 seconds left, hit a straight on jumper to win the game for the Hawks.

Junior guard Megan Griffith led the Lions with 16 points and junior forward Becky Hogue and first-year guard Katrina Cragg both chipped in 11 points. Carfora finished with a game-high nine rebounds. For Monmouth, Charisse Johnson scored 13 points and Niamh Dwyer grabbed seven rebounds.

The Lions started the second half with a one-point lead and Monmouth made the score 28-27 in its favor with free throws from Lindsey Zegowitz. Columbia, however, responded and took a seven-point lead with a layup and a three from Hogue and another three from Cragg.

Columbia's lead was short-lived, however, as the Hawks went on a run of their own, making it a one-point game again at 37-36 with 9:42 left in the game. For the remainder of the game, neither team had a lead bigger than four points and the lead changed four times. With 1:13 to go and the Hawks up by one point, Griffith hit a free throw to tie the game at 54.

The first half was close as well, with eight lead changes, two ties and Columbia having the largest lead of the half of three points with 2:50 left.

Griffith led all players at the half with nine points and Carfora had five rebounds.

The Lions face Wagner on Saturday, December 30th at 4 p.m. The game will be held in the Spiro Sports Center on the Seahawks' campus in Staten Island, N.Y.