Lutheran coach John Buetow expected defense and rebounding would be the Saints' tickets to the Association of Independent Schools B Division tournament title.
But offense carried the Saints to a 27-24 comeback victory over top-seeded Glenelg Country School last night at the College of Notre Dame.
After managing just 11 points through three quarters, the Saints (9-11) scored 16 in the fourth quarter to overpower Glenelg, which had led by eight.
"It wasn't a very pretty game, but in the fourth quarter I thought we played some exceptional basketball," said Buetow. "We showed some intensity. Where maybe we didn't make some wise decisions early, we didn't make many mistakes that last quarter at all. They did a super job."
The Saints entered the fourth quarter trailing 17-11 and facing a box-and-one defense on Amanda Minor, who had scored seven. But Lutheran turned the game around on a couple of big connections between Rachel Seaborn and Jenni Werner.
Seaborn fed Werner for back-to-back short jumpers on nearly identical inbounds plays to give the Saints an 18-17 lead with 5:09 to play. It was Lutheran's first lead since 2-0.
Although the Dragons (12-5) tied the game with 2:54 left on Robin Zimmerly's 18 footer, Lutheran never again trailed.
Seaborn hit a free throw and Minor, a jumper from the line to extend the Saints' lead to 24-21. After Seaborn added a free throw, Werner fed Kris Wollman for a six-point lead.
Only Akosua Kankam's 20-footer with eight seconds left brought Glenelg within three.
For the Saints, whose only senior is Seaborn, the win avenged a 46-33 loss two weeks ago that handed Glenelg the B Division regular-season title. In that game, the Saints could not stop Zimmerly, Sonia Fernandez-Martin and Allison Hoke.
This time, Zimmerly got into early foul trouble and Hoke couldn't find her shooting touch. However, Fernandez-Martin, an exchange student from Spain, gave the Saints trouble by pulling down 17 rebounds -- 13 in the first half.
The Dragons suffered a huge blow when Fernandez-Martin fouled out with 4:49 to go. To make matters worse, Glenelg's best ball-handler, Zimmerly, followed her to the bench for good two minutes later.
"This is an extremely big win for us," said the Saints' only senior, Rachel Seaborn. "This is the first time any girls team in any sport in any year has ever won this kind of championship at our school."