After Dawnae Roberts, the senior point guard for No. 1 St. Frances, missed the first of two free throws with 34 seconds left in last night's tied game with No. 3 Seton Keough, she flashed back to her freshman year.
"It reminded me of that time we were playing against Western and I missed that free throw that would have won the game ... so I was thinking, 'At least let me hit that second one. We'd be up by one and we could play defense and win it out.' "
Roberts made the second free throw, and the host Panthers used defense and a little luck to pull out a 58-57 win in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference semifinal.
The Panthers (22-5), who have won four straight titles and five of the past six, will meet No. 4 McDonogh, an upset semifinal winner over No. 2 Towson Catholic, for the title tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Goucher College.
Last night, after Roberts' free throw, the Gators (21-5) had three chances to win - two on excellent attempts, a three-point shot by Arika Ullman with 14 seconds left and a shot by B.J. Williams with four seconds to go.
Gators coach Jackie Boswell called a timeout with 12.4 seconds left to set up a final shot, giving All-Metro guard Williams the option to shoot or pass.
Williams, who finished with 15 points, took a short shot that nearly dropped, grabbed the carom and fired a desperation shot at the buzzer.
"I thought she had a decent shot," Boswell said. "They went in all night, but sometimes it doesn't happen that way.
Seton Keough used its inside-outside game - 17 points from 6-foot-3 Asya Bussie in the low post and 21 points from three-point range - to stretch the zone. Twelve points down in the third quarter, the Gators led 55-50 with 4:51 to go.
Roberts, who finished with 16 points, then scored six straight before Bussie hit a follow shot and Panthers forward Mi-Khida Hankins made a free throw to tie the game at 57.
katherine.dunn@baltsun.com