For four long years, Mount de Sales senior Ana Martinez had waited for a chance to win the Catholic League Tournament title. For nearly a decade, the Sailors had waited to beat conference rival Seton Keough.
With one miraculous half-court heave last night at Archbishop Spalding, Martinez and Mount de Sales took care of both.
After receiving the ball deep in the Sailors' end with four seconds left, the forward drove to just over mid-court and threw up a high-arching prayer that found nothing but net as the final buzzer sounded, giving the Sailors a 44-43 victory over the regular-season champions.
"I really didn't think it had a chance," said Martinez, who was mobbed by fans and teammates after the game. "I was just saying, 'Please God, let it go in.' I kept my follow-through and it swished."
With the victory, the fourth-seeded Sailors (16-7) advance to their first tournament final, where they'll face second seed St. Frances -- a 69-50 winner over No. 3 seed St. Mary's in last night's other semifinal -- today at 2 o'clock at Spalding.
But they'll have to do a lot to match last night's performance.
Led by Martinez and center Amy Buck (13 points each), Mount de Sales played a relatively error-free game, turning over the ball just 12 times and giving the Gators fits with their half-court defense.
Despite getting out-rebounded, 35-21, they used patience on offense and never trailed by more than five points in the second half.
"I told the girls to stay focused," said Sailors coach Bill Held, whose team held Gators leading scorer Melanie Morris to three points.
"I told them that if we stayed with them and kept the score low that we could win it."