Custer County made just one field goal in the final eight minutes of Friday night's game against Dickinson High - and it came with 24 seconds left.
The way the Cowgirls shot from the free-throw line in the closing minutes, they didn't need to do much else.
Custer County, ranked second in Montana's Class A, shot 11 of 14 from the line during the span and fought off the Midgets' comeback to secure a 75-70 victory at the Dickinson High School gymnasium.
"The kids responded and hit their shots when they needed to," Cowgirls coach Cary Veis said. "It happened to be free throws."
Custer County shot 26 of 40 (65 percent) from the line in the game.
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"We put them on the free-throw line way too many times," Dickinson coach Greg Jung said. "We just couldn't contain their dribble penetration."
Cowgirls senior Torrie Cahill got to the basket early and often, scoring a game-high 29 points while shooting 7 of 9 from the field and 15 of 24 from the free-throw line.
The Cowgirls, who improved to 17-1 on the season, haven't played in many close games this season. In their only loss, to Dawson County (Mont.), Veis said missed free throws were a factor.
Cahill wasn't about to let the Cowgirls fall in the same fashion Friday night.
"We knew that's what we needed to do if we got in a close game," Cahill said.
Dickinson kept it close from the start, breaking the Cowgirls' tricky press and maintaining small leads early in the first half.
However, Custer County scored 10 unanswered points in a two-minute span to gain a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
The Midgets had a 28-21 lead with 5:17 to play before halftime when the Cowgirls went on their run.
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"We had the seven-point lead and then we just fell apart for four minutes," Jung said.
The Cowgirls took a 37-31 lead into the halftime break and extended their lead to 46-33 early in the second half.
But Dickinson never gave up.
Freshman Jess Herauf got the basket and made sure of that.
The 5-foot-8 post helped the Midgets trim the Cowgirls' lead to 46-42 and came through again later in the second half with back-to-back buckets that cut the lead to 62-57.
Herauf finished with a team-high 19 points for Dickinson, which fell to 8-10 overall.
Whitley Abrahamson had three 3-pointers and scored 13 points while dishing out nine assists. Lynn Messer added 12 points.
"They caused a lot of problems and they put some points on the board," Veis said.
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Jung took the fact that Midgets were in the game until the end as a sign the team is turning a corner heading into the West Region tournament.
The last time the team's met, on Dec. 8, 2007, in Miles City, Mont., the Cowgirls came away with a 61-32 victory.
Dickinson hosts second-ranked Mandan in its regular-season finale on Tuesday.
"For us to get 70, to me, that's encouraging," Jung said. "... They're kind of like a clone of Mandan."
Custer County (Mont.) 75,
Dickinson High 70
CC: Torrie Cahill 29, Mary Gillette 10, Brilyn Steadman 9, Alex Mader 8, Kali Durham 8, Anna Magnuson 6, Laura Gillette 5.
D: Jess Herauf 19, Whitley Abrahamson 13, Lynn Messer 12, Brigette Uttech 8, Celeste Miller 6, Shaunda Dvorak 6, Brie Lynch 4, Rachel Havelka 2.
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3-pointers: M. Gillette, Mader, L. Gillette, Abrahamson 3, Messer, Lynch. Free throws: CC 26-40, D 11-19. Total fouls: CC 18, D 25. Rebounds: CC 25 (Magnuson 5), D 28 (Herauf, Dvorak 4). Assists: CC 15 (Steadman 4), D 21 (Abrahamson 9). Steals: CC 20 (Cahill 5), D 13. Turnovers: CC 20, D 31.
