The Fayette girls won the right to play for the district title for the first time since 2006 after upsetting longtime conference rival and second-seeded Westran, 46-42, Wednesday night in the Class 2 District 7 semifinals at Sturgeon.

Fayette entered the tournament as the third seed and defeated host team Sturgeon, the sixth seed, in an opening-round bout to advance to the semis. After a sluggish first half, Westran blew past seventh-seeded Slater 69-31 in the first round on Monday.

Wednesday’s game was the third matchup between the two longtime rivals. Westran won the first two bouts but fell four points short of the trifecta. They won the first game against Fayette during the New Franklin Tournament in January. Fayette was short some key players due to injury and illness in the second matchup in Huntsville on January 30. But on Wednesday, The Lady Falcons were at relatively full strength for the district semifinal game, amplified by the determination to win.

This season marks somewhat of a mirror image to last year when Fayette defeated Westran twice in the regular season only to lose in districts. This time, Western had the upper hand in the first two games during the regular season, with Fayette playing the role of district spoiler.

Fayette coach Daryl Betts predicts next year will be just as competitive. While Fayette will no longer be a member of the Lewis & Clark conference, they will still play during the regular season and will likely be paired up again in the same district.

“They say it’s hard to beat a team three times. I thought that was the case,” he said. “These games are tough. There are a lot of emotions with the players.”

Wednesday’s semifinal started slow, as Fayette and Western battled two a 2-2 tie through almost six minutes of the opening quarter. Fayette finally hit a run late in the quarter, thanks to five straight points from senior Kay Sullivan to go up 7-2. Westran finally broke its scoring drought with a basket from sophomore Jaelyn Miller with 48 seconds left. But Fayette had the final word when junior Oakleigh Hill sank a big-time 3-pointer with five seconds left to go up 10-4 after one quarter.

The rest of the game would be played in similar fashion. It was indeed a game of big moments for both teams, and it was Westran’s turn in the first minutes of the second quarter. Sophomore Kate Hollmann scored a few seconds after the ball was inbounded. Ninety seconds later, freshman Shay Bennett sank a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game.

Midway through the period, Salisbury went on another run that included a 3-point shot from sophomore Kyleigh Carroll to take the lead.

Fayette’s next big moment came on its next possession when freshman sharpshooter Addison Gibbs sank the first of five 3-pointers on the night.

The Lady Hornets then took their biggest lead of the game on a six-point run to go up 22-14. But, like the first quarter, Fayette would again have the last say. Sullivan got things rolling with a free throw. She missed the second shot, but Fayette grabbed the rebound and passed it out to Gibbs on the perimeter, who connected on another 3-point shot.

Then, with 18 seconds remaining, Fayette post KeBrea Fair sank a shot to cut the lead to two points, 22-20, at halftime.

“She shoots the ball well,” Betts said about his freshman 3-point shooter. “And the shots she was getting tonight were really good passes to where she could see the basket right in front. They were focused on Oakleigh, so it opened her up and allowed us to have these moments.”

Gibbs would have another shining moment at the end of the third quarter. After a back-and-forth third period with five lead changes, during which Westran tied the game twice, Fayette took possession under the basket after the officials whistled a jump ball. Fayette inbounded the ball and passed it to Gibbs on the corner. The 3-point shot swished moments before the buzzer sounded, causing Fayette’s bench to erupt in celebration.

“I put Gibbs in, and then she stroked the three-pointer to end the quarter,” Betts excitedly recalled.

The shot broke what would be the final tie of the game, putting Fayette on top by three with eight minutes left to play.

The rough-and-tumble third quarter was a proper fight between two battle-tested teams. When one team would jump ahead, the other had an answer. Fayette took the lead on a 3-point shot from Hill just 10 seconds into the second half and went up by three on a bucket from sophomore Browyn Eubanks. But Westran tied the game with a triple from Hollmann. The 5’10 sophomore scored eight straight points for the Lady Hornets and put her team in front with her second 3-point shot in less than two minutes.

Fayette inched back in front on a bucket by Fair and two free throws from Sullivan. But Hollmann made another go-ahead basket with 1:53 on the clock.

Westran would score just two more points in the third quarter in separate trips to the free-throw line to take a 35-32 lead. But Fayette always had an answer at the end of a quarter. With 41 seconds left, Hill connected from behind the arc to tie the game before Gibbs’s spectacular buzzer-beater at the end put Fayette in the lead for good.

While the Falcons would manage to stay in front the rest of the game, Westran was always nipping at their heels and never allowed the teams to be separated by more than four points.

On both occasions in the fourth quarter when Westran cut the lead to one point, Gibbs fired off another 3-pointer to give Fayette a slight cushion. The first time came with 5:45 left to play. The next put Fayette up 44-40 as Fayette tried to burn the clock with 3:30 left.

Westran scored once more with a field goal by Hollmann to make it a two-point game. Then, the Hornets took advantage of a 1-1 foul count as they were forced to stop the clock in the closing minutes. Finally, with 27.9 seconds left, Westran coach Alex Thomas called a time-out. When the Hornets inbounded the ball, they got it back into Hollmann’s hands. But the bucket didn’t fall, and with the clock at 20 seconds, the sure hands of Sullivan brought down the rebound. Two seconds later, another foul sent Eubanks to the line. The athletic sophomore shrugged off the pressure as she stepped to the line and coolly converted both free throws to make it a two-possession game and all but clinch the win.

“Browyn has never missed a post-season free throw,” Betts said. “Monday, she was 4-for-4. Tonight, she was 2-for-2. It’s just big time.”

With the game all but won, Fayette still had another big moment yet to come. With eight seconds left, senior Addison Powell made a crucial steal at halfcourt to preserve the victory and send Fayette to the district championship.

“That was huge,” Betts said. “I was like, ‘Just go. Just keep dribbling.’ She was so big with that. She made the big play. We set that play up for her to be in there to go in and make the big play. We had our best defensive group in terms of size and speed. And we got the steal we needed.”

But even with 1.4 seconds still to play the drama wasn’t over.

After Westran stopped the clock with a foul, the officials called two technical fouls, one each for Powell and Westran’s Kharigan Fuemmeler, after the two made contact with one another after the whistle. But what the referees couldn’t possibly know was that the two are actually best of friends, and the roughhousing was done entirely out of fun. Luckily for Fayette, the fouls offset, so no free throws were shot, and therefore, the outcome of the game was unaffected.

Fayette finished with two players in double figures, both of whom shined from 3-point range. Gibbs led the way with 15 points, all scored in critical moments from the arc. Hill posted 14 points with three triples.

“Oakleigh Hill hit some shots. Addison Gibbs had five 3-pointers. She was big time for us,” said Betts.

Sullivan scored eight points and made four of six free-throw attempts. Fair added five points. Eubanks finished with four points and sank two crucial free throws in the closing seconds.

Of Fayette’s 15 field goals, eight came from the 3-point arc. The Lady Falcons also converted eight of 15 free throws.

“We probably hit for around 40% from the 3-point line, and our free throws were solid,” said Betts, who credits his team’s defense as much as its shooting. “The hustle was so intense. We just did what we were supposed to do, and that was fun to watch.”

For the Lady Hornets, an outstanding comeback season ended with a record of 18-10. It was their first winning season since 2017 and accounted for more wins than the six previous seasons combined.

Hollmann paced the Lady Hornets with a game-high 21 points and hit three 3-point shots in the second half. Emma Wortmann finished with eight points.

While they fell short of the district championship, this was clearly the start of a new era of girls’ basketball in Westran.

Fayette’s new era started last season with a .500 record and continues in a big way this year. The Lady Falcons have now won 20 games and advance to their first district championship game in almost two decades.

Fayette will now face another familiar Lewis & Clark Conference rival in the championship. After receiving a first-round bye, top-seeded Salisbury advanced to the championship game after taking down fifth-seeded Harrisburg 52-27.

The Lady Panthers are 22-5 on the season and are poised to win their second district in three years after they were upset by seven points a year ago.

A conference powerhouse, Salisbury has had Fayette’s number in every game for nearly two decades. The only meeting between the two teams this year resulted in a lopsided victory for the Lady Panthers. However, it must be noted that Fayette was out two starters, with two other starters battling sickness. And for Betts, Salisbury is the only L&C team he has yet to beat in two years as Fayette’s coach.

“Salisbury in the district championship… it’s all set up for a big game,” he said. “They got the conference championship, but I would take the district championship.

“I’m excited about Friday, getting a chance to compete. We just have to play basketball the way Fayette has been playing basketball. We have to play with heart and leave it all on the court and limit our turnovers.”

Tipoff on Friday is at 6 p.m. in Sturgeon. The winner will advance to face the District 8 champion, likely Tipton, in the state sectional on Monday.