Baker might need to make a revision to hers following Northern Bedford’s 40-39 win.

The senior was fouled with no time remaining on the clock and the score tied at 39. Standing at the foul line alone with everyone watching her, she missed the first free throw. With Tussey Mountain fans screaming and stomping the bleachers, Baker composed herself and made the second as her teammates rushed the court to celebrate a victory over their rival with her.

“This is a moment I have always wanted my whole career — to hit the game-winning shot,” Baker said. “It feels amazing. Our team has worked so hard to get to this point, and I’m really proud of all of them.”

The teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 33, but Tussey Mountain scored the first six points highlighted by Reagan Ramper’s 3-pointer and jump shot. Hillary Horton’s free throw with 2:53 left made it 39-33.

But Northern Bedford, which didn’t score in the fourth quarter until Yeatts made two free throws with 1:51 left in the game, got the ball back with the score tied and 33.1 seconds remaining after Tussey Mountain missed two free throws.

Baker drove to the foul line in the final seconds and put up a shot that drew a whistle as the buzzer sounded. After missing her first attempt to win the game, Baker asked for some help on her second shot.

“That was the most nervous I have ever been in my whole basketball career,” Baker said. “I said a prayer out loud to myself. I said, ‘Dear Lord, please give me the strength to make this shot,’ and obviously the Lord works in miraculous ways. It’s definitely the best moment of my basketball career.”

Baker and Yeatts combined to score 12 of Northern Bedford’s 40 points.

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Northern Bedford's Blaire Gable puts up a shot by Tussey Mountain's Hillary Horton.

“It was fantastic for her, especially on senior night, for it to come down to that,” Northern Bedford coach Jon Ewart said. “That first one, she knew it was kind of ugly. But honestly, out of anyone on the team, she’s probably over the course of her career shot the most amount of foul shots. She’s in here in the mornings shooting a lot of them, so I knew with the law of averages she was going to hit that second one.”

Northern Bedford trailed by four with less than a minute to play, but Amberly Detterline made a layup with 44.7 seconds to play and then stole the inbounds pass and made another layup to tie the game.

“Tussey definitely had control of things,” Ewart said. “I looked at my assistant coach and asked if it had been eight or 10 minutes since we scored, and it was late in the game. We brought a little bit of pressure with our press and were able to create some turnovers. We got a couple defensive rebounds, got the ball down the floor and looked to attack the rim a lot more like we did in the first half.”

The Lady Titans went 0-for-4 from the foul line in the final 1:28 and were just 10-for-19 for the game.

“We were getting rebounds and limiting them to one shot,” Tussey Mountain coach Todd Gates said. “We were controlling the boards and right on them. We were switching screens and not giving them any open looks. That’s what we were looking to do, but you have to finish it out. We just didn’t finish it out.”

The Tussey Mountain contingent wasn’t happy with the final foul call, but Gates did not blame the loss on it.

“You don’t let it come down to officiating,” Gates said. “You always have to give yourself a little cushion so if a call goes against you, it doesn’t hurt you. We weren’t able to do that tonight.”

It was the second time Northern Bedford has edged Tussey Mountain this year after beating the Lady Titans by nearly the same score, 41-39, on Jan. 8.

“It’s a fantastic atmosphere to get you ready for the playoffs,” Ewart said. “We’re down to four games plus playoffs. Every game has a playoff feel to it. This is a great rivalry. I have a lot of respect for Coach Gates. He’s always got a solid program, and I always tell people if it’s a tight game in the fourth quarter, they are tough to beat. We just got a little bit lucky tonight and got on the good side of that.”

Tussey Mountain’s Karah Husick led all scorers with 12 points, and Ramper added 10. The Lady Titans led by one at halftime, by five in the third quarter and took their biggest lead with under three minutes to play in the game.

“There are a couple games we look forward to every year, and this is definitely one of them,” Gates said. “It’s always a good game. You like to play in these close games. It gives you different situations, but unfortunately we didn’t handle those situations properly tonight.”

TUSSEY MOUNTAIN (39): Sheeder 4 0-0 8, Husick 4 4-9 12, Horton 1 1-4 3, Gabrielson 2 0-0 4, Ramper 3 3-4 10, Price 0 0-0 0, Yutzy 0 2-2 2. Totals — 14 10-19 39.

NORTHERN BEDFORD (40): Baker 2 1-2 5, A. Yeatts 2 2-2 7, Detterline 4 0-0 8, H. Yeatts 3 1-5 9, Gable 2 3-3 7, Verbit 1 2-4 4, Smith 0 0-0 0, Troy 0 0-0 0, Barton 0 0-0 0, Reasy 0 0-0 0, Bollman 0 0-0 0. Totals — 14 9-16 40.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Tussey Mountain 7 14 12 6 — 39

Northern Bedford 11 9 13 7 — 40

3-point goals: Tussey Mountain 1 (Ramper); Northern Bedford 3 (H. Yeatts 2, A. Yeatts).

Records: Tussey Mountain (10-7); Northern Bedford (11-8).

Officials: Klayton Heffner, Ray Klinger, William Strasser.

JV: Northern Bedford, 49-15. High scorers–McKenna Reasy, NB, 14; Natalie Runk, TM, 5.