The Indians, huge underdogs to top-seeded Bulkeley, had taken a two-point lead when Nawrocki carefully swished two free throws with 7.6 seconds left. A few heartbeats later, the Indians had to find solace in coming within an eyelash of an earth-shattering upset.

Patrica Sampson tossed up a 3-point prayer at the buzzer Saturday to give Bulkeley a 43-42 overtime win over No. 2 Farmington in the Class L championship before 2,208 at Detrick Gymnasium.

"The fact is we were such a heavy underdog and we came out and stuck with this team for the entire game," Farmington center Victoria Hodges said. "They didn’t get more than a (five-point) lead on us so that’s pretty amazing. It feels good as a captain to see your girls playing so hard for (36) minutes straight."

Bulkeley (26-1) stomped all over its victims this season by an average of over 30 points per game. Yet Farmington (24-3) used its tall frontcourt and sticky defense to imprint the contest with the patience required to keep the game manageable.

After Nawrocki’s foul shots gave Farmington a 42-40 lead, Bulkeley’s All-State point guard Shanice Billington brought the ball quickly up the floor. When Farmington’s defense prevented her from getting a good look, she passed left to Sampson.

"We told the girls not to foul - to keep their hands up. They had been forcing up threes for the whole second half and missing them. That shot that she made was a prayer that was answered. It was a turnaround fadeaway, a 25-footer that goes in one out of 50 or a hundred shots."

"We wanted to get (Billington) the ball and we told the kids to take it down as quick as we could for a shot going to the basket," Gatorade-drenched Bulkeley coach Al Phillips said. "Then it was just a matter of improvising."

Sampson (14 points) didn’t know how much time was left or exactly where she was on the floor. She jockeyed for some open space to create a target for Billington (13 points).

"She got it to me, I took a dribble and shot," Sampson said. "I didn’t even see the basket. I’d seen it before I got the pass but I just turned and shot it."

The Indians held Bulkeley’s vaunted transition game in check. The Bulldogs went 0-for-15 from the floor in the first quarter and Farmington emerged with a 7-3 lead.

A 13-4 run gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game midway through the second quarter but the Indians answered with two free throws by Hodges and two inside hoops by Laura Burdick. They trailed 19-17 at halftime.

Burdick hit two foul shots and Sue Lagassie scored on a pass from Kathy Frankowski. Nawrocki made a steal and beat Billington to the hole for a layup, then drained a three to give Farmington a 29-28 lead with eight minutes left in regulation.

The Indians never trailed in the fourth quarter. Hodges scored off a Nawrocki pass with 1:30 remaining but Sampson tied it up 36 seconds later with two free throws. Sampson missed from the left corner as time expired, sending the game into overtime.

"She’s one of the toughest blue-collar, hard-nosed player I’ve seen and we’ve played against a lot of good teams this year," Crist said. "I would stack Laura up against anybody from any league in terms of being fearless, strong and giving everything. Every time I looked up she was getting her hands on the basketball."

"I’m sure I’ll find it tomorrow or maybe next week," he said. "Right now, it’s a shock and it hurts. It’s probably going to hurt for a little while but somewhere down the road, I’m sure all of us will look back and say what a great game it was and what an unbelievable season this team put together."

This is cache, read story here