MOKANE - The South Callaway Lady Bulldogs were unable to maintain their recent mastery of the Hermann Lady Bearcats.
Allison Stiers hit all six of her free throws late in overtime as No. 2 seed Hermann upended No. 1 South Callaway 71-64 in the championship of the South Callaway Invitational Tournament on Thursday night.
The Lady Bearcats knocked off the Lady Bulldogs (10-3) by outscoring them 9-2 in the extra period. Stiers allowed Hermann (12-2) to force overtime when she made two free throws with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 62-all.
The Lady Bearcats avenged a 60-51 loss at South Callaway on Dec. 6, as well as a 62-48 loss to the Lady Bulldogs for the South Callaway title last year. South Callaway also rallied to defeat Hermann 78-70 for the Class 3, District 9 title in 2018, en route to making its first trip to the state playoffs.
"It's a brutal back-and-forth for either team to win, a perfect matchup," Lady Bulldogs head coach Darren Humphrey said after Thursday night's loss. "Hermann is a very talented team you can't take anything away from them.
"They have more depth on their bench than we do, and they use it very, very well. We both had our hands full with each other."
The Lady Bearcats were on top 21-17 after one quarter, but South Callaway outscored Hermann 18-10 in the second quarter to go in front 35-31 at halftime. The Lady Bearcats countered by outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 17-8 in the third quarter to take a 48-43 edge.
South Callaway rallied to regain the lead at 62-60 when freshman guard Raegan Brown converted both ends of a 1-and-1 with :11 remaining in regulation. Stiers, though, responded by answering at the foul line to send the game to overtime.
Sophomore guard Paige Clubb came up with a game-high 27 points to guide three players in double figures for the Lady Bulldogs, who had their four-game winning streak halted. Junior guard Raeghan Meyer followed with 13 points and Brown had 12.
Clubb, Brown and sophomore center DeLaney Horstman - who fouled out with :26.2 to play in regulation - were selected to the all-tournament team.
"We just came up a little short," Humphrey said. "There's no doubt in my mind that my girls gave me everything they had.
"We'll grow from this loss - we know what we have to do. I couldn't be anymore proud of these girls."
Stiers connected for 24 points to lead three players in double figures for Hermann. Quincy Erickson chipped in with 17 points and Emma Godat contributed 14.
South Callaway is scheduled to travel to New Haven for a nonconference matchup at 6 p.m. Monday.