“Maybe being the underdog helped our girls relax a little,” THS coach Laurie Thompson added. “I told the girls there are two seasons. In the regular season, we were 21-8. But in the postseason, we’re 3-0 and they were 3-0. Tonight was anybody’s ballgame. I just told the girls to go out and have fun and let tonight be our night.”

And for most of the game it was.

Ciara Roepke opened the game with a 3-pointer and the Lady Shoes never trailed. Lexie Niebrugge then got a steal and layup and a short time later, made a pair of free throws, staking THS to an early 7-0 lead.

Roepke had another three, Karsyn Mette hit a short jumper and Niemerg scored four points, expanding the Lady Shoes advantage to 16-7 after the opening eight minutes.

“When Ciara knocked down that first shot I knew the girls were ready,” Thompson said. “We had some shots fall early and I think that helped relax them. I think it gave them confidence. They started to believe ‘we can do this.’”

A 3-pointer by Niemerg and a bucket by Izzy Hardiek after a Paris turnover gave T-Town its biggest lead of the contest, 21-7, with just two minutes to play in the opening half. Isaf connected from behind the arc and Kendra Young hit a shot at the buzzer to trim the margin to 24-14 at intermission.

It was still a 10-point spread, 27-17, with 2:23 to play in the third period when Isaf hit the pair from long range. Niemerg’s bucket with just two seconds left made it 29-23 heading into the final eight minutes.

“We knew we had to be strong on defense, take good shots and not commit silly fouls,” said Niebrugge. “It was crunch time. We had to play our hardest and not let them score.”

And much of that credit goes to the outstanding defensive effort turned in by Mette, whose assignment was to faceguard Isaf, the Lady Tigers leading scorer, the entire game. Isaf finished with 11 points, but other than the two third-quarter threes, was not much of a factor the rest of the contest.

“Karsyn’s defense was amazing,” said Claire Bushur, who has missed almost the entire season due to a torn ACL and meniscus in her left leg. “She really shut Isaf down.”

“Karsyn played great defense,” Niebrugge added. “We were not going to let them beat us a third time.”

“We had planned to faceguard her for a long time,” Coach Thompson admitted. “I can’t say enough about the job Karsyn did. Isaf is a phenomenal player, but Karsyn did an awesome job. She really gutted it out. I think she played 31 of the 32 minutes tonight. I’m so proud of her.”

But the Lady Shoes still had a tough fourth quarter to get through.

Niemerg, who led the team with 17 points, made two jumpers to extend the lead to double digits, 33-23, at the 6:42 mark.

But the Lady Tigers, winners of 34 straight games this season, made one final surge. Isaf scored her final two points and Karrington Krabel had two baskets, and once again, the lead was reduced to four, 33-29, with 2:54 still remaining.

Paris had a chance to trim the lead even further, but Niemerg stood her ground on defense and took a charging foul and that seemed to be the spark that made the Lady Shoes needed to close it out.

“I love taking charges,” Niemerg admitted. “I was pumped up and my teammates were pumped up.”

“That was huge,” Thompson added. “But Olivia was awesome the entire game. She ran the show for us, played good defense and rebounded. She really stepped up tonight. And I loved that charge she took.”

Then free throw shooting sealed the victory.

The Lady Shoes went 10-for-12 from the foul line in the final 1:57. Niebrugge and Roepke both hit a pair, Hope Bueker added one and Niemerg was 5-for-6, helping THS rattle off the final 10 points of the contest and secure a berth in the McLeansboro Super Sectional.

For much of the final quarter, the Lady Shoes were extremely patient on the offensive end and continually ran time off the clock.

“We worked in practice on dribbling around under pressure and keeping the ball away from the defense,” Coach Thompson explained. “We kept our dribble tonight and the girls came to meet the ball. I was pleased with what I saw. We didn’t panic, which was a key. The girls performed very well under all that pressure.”

“In both of those first two games with Paris, we had the lead, let it get away and then lost them,” Niemerg said. “We weren’t going to let that happen again. We’ve played a lot of good teams this year and that helped prepare us for tonight.”

And when the Lady Tigers, who finished 34-1, did have the ball, T-Town’s defense was stifling.

“Karsyn was great, but our entire team defense was awesome,” Thompson said. “Everybody did their role. Tonight we showed how Lady Shoes play defense.”

One of the biggest smiles following the game belonged to Bushur. She couldn’t play, but she was dressed and on the bench.

“Miss T said I could dress since I was a part of the team,” she noted. “I’m so proud of my teammates. Everyone pulled together like we knew we could. We knew it would be tough tonight on their home floor, but we were determined to kick butt.”

The Lady Shoes will now face Carterville Monday night at McLeansboro High School. The Lady Lions defeated Nashville 54-42 to claim the Carterville Sectional.

The winner of that game will advance to the Class 2A State Tournament in Bloomington.

These two teams also met earlier in the season. The Lady Lions posted a 44-40 victory over THS back in November during the Salem Invitational Tournament.

“Carterville has a nice team,” Thompson noted. “They have strong guards and a good post player and are very athletic and quick. We’ll have our hands full.”

The Lady Shoes will enter the game with a 25-8 record, while Carterville is 33-1.

Game time is 7 p.m.