South sub-section title girls' basketball game goes to overtime at St. John's

An update from St. John's University...the NL-S Wildcats are mounting a comeback against Litchfield in the Sub-Section 6AA-South championship.

The Wildcats endured a very difficult first half, giving up a major scoring run to the Dragons that erased an early 10-6 NL-S lead. Taylor Thunstedt of NL-S picked up her second personal foul with 10:10 left, and the resulting free throw made it 18-10 in favor of Litchfield.

The Litchfield surge lasted 16 points, resulting in a 23-10 lead for the Dragons after Jordan Peterson knocked in a three with 8 minutes left.

Olivia Setterberg ended the 16-0 run with a free throw, and her fastbreak bucket with 6 minutes left then made it a 23-13 deficit. She hit inside a minute later to make it 25-15.

Shelbie Walsh hit a three to keep Litchfield in the driver's seat, up 28-15, and then Thunstedt hit a runner with 2:20 left to make it 32-17.

Amanda Radel gave her Wildcats team a lift with a three-pointer to make it 34-20, but Litchfield scored the final five points before halftime to make it 39-20 at the break. Fun fact: in the earlier meeting between these two teams, Litchfield led 34-14 at halftime before going on to lose in regulation play.

**Update at 6:55pm...the Wildcats have cut the deficit down to 46-35 in the 2nd half!

**And now it's tied at 48-48!

NL-S ultimately took a brief 51-50 lead in the final two minutes, but Walsh hit a three to put the Dragons back on top 53-51 with 1:00 left.

At the end of regulation, NL-S and Litchfield were tied at 53-53. With 14 seconds left in the second half, Taylor Thunstedt drove in for a layup to force the overtime period. Adding to the drama, with .5 seconds left, a traveling call was applied to Litchfield that essentially ended regulation play.

Final score: Litchfield 60, NL-S 53 in overtime. Thunstedt finished with 31 points. The Wildcats, whose starting five of Jessica Johnson, Lydia Kieft, Amanda Radel, Olivia Setterberg and Amanda Radel all began the four-minute overtime, were stifled in the difficult extra period.

Litchfield takes a 20-8 record into the Section 6AA final, while NL-S ended another fine season of basketball with a 19-9 record. The Wildcats finished 6-4 (second) in the very tough West Central North Conference. They've had winning records in conference play every year as members of the West Central Conference dating back to 1982.