RIVERSIDE

The drama was clear.

Standing at the free-throw line with just 5.9 seconds remaining in her final home game Thursday night, Highland senior Kenzi Hora was looking to pad a precious one-point Huskies lead in a first-round Class 1A tournament game against Lisbon.

Sitting on the team bench just a few yards away, her head buried in a towel, was Huskies offensive leader Abbi Stransky, gone from the game with a knee injury.

Huskies teammate Dani Laughlin walked up to Hora and told her: “You’re the best free throw shooter on the team. We believe in you. You’ve got it.”

Hora sank her first free throw and it helped send the Huskies to a 54-52 overtime victory after Highland’s defense prevented Lisbon from getting off a good shot in the final seconds.

“For her to step up and hit those. I mean, she hit a couple of them last Friday [in a SEISC Shootout win], as well,” Huskies coach Jody Fink said. “She’s a good free throw shooter.”

The win was the first in the postseason for Highland since 2019 and advanced the Huskie to  regional quarterfinal game Tuesday at Montezuma (17-4).

Whether the Huskies will play with Stransky on Tuesday was unknown as of Friday. She scored 21 points, including 8 in the fourth quarter, but injured her knee in a scramble for a loose ball with 1:10 left and the score tied at 47. She was flat on her back following the play holding her knee while attended to.

She was helped into a locker room area, then eventually hobbled back into the gym and watched the end of regulation from the bleachers and the overtime period from the Huskies bench.

“Honestly, it means a lot to the girls,” Fink said. “For them to sit there and see her there, they know she’s there for them.”

Trailing 49-47 in the final minute of regulation, sophomore forward Sarah Burton took a pass from Laughlin and went inside for a basket to tie it at 49. The Huskies almost won it in regulation, but a quick drive to the hoop and a shot by Laughlin rolled off the rim and out in the final second.

Lisbon’s Kali Nelson, who was a threat from the outside all night long, hit a 3-pointer in the first minute of overtime, but the Lions never scored again. Highland senior guard Emma Soukup trimmed the deficit to one with a shot from the outside and then Laughlin scored on a fast-break layup with 1:55 left to put the Huskies in front.

Hora gave the Huskies a two-point edge at 0:05.9 with her free throw, and soon the Huskies were celebrating on the court and then greeting Stransky, still sitting on the bench, with hugs.

“That was huge. It’s just the whole season coming together at the end at the right time,” Laughlin said. “Coach talked about how we’re all 0-0 now, and now we’re 1 and 0. That’s what we wanted. That’s what we talked about. It’s just so big and so exciting for us.“