The last three times Elsie Betz made a 3-pointer, she gave Indian Creek a seven-point lead.

Considering Hinckley-Big Rock stormed back and tied things up with 1:30 left in the game, the Timberwolves needed each and every one of those points in their 58-56 road win over the Royals on Thursday.

“It was really good,” said the freshman Betz, who was 6-for-9 from long range and finished with 20 points. “We really needed it at the end. It was good for us to get those points. It really helped us win.”

In a game that ended up featuring 11 lead changes and eight ties, it seemed like the fourth quarter was going to be all Indian Creek (12-10 overall, 5-2 Little 10), thanks in large part to Betz.

Her 3 with less than a minute to go in the third quarter capped a 10-0 run for the Timberwolves and gave them a 45-38 lead, their biggest since they led 15-8 in the first.

Anna Herrmann answered back with a 3-pointer for the Royals (10-13, 3-2) before the quarter ended, but Betz started the fourth with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to seven.

Her final 3 of the game came with 5:32 left, pushing the lead back to seven.

“We’ve been talking to her all year about it to get some confidence,” Indian Creek coach Paul Muchmore said. “Hopefully this will be a nice building block for her for the rest of the year and then the rest of her career.”

But the Royals surged back with quick 3-pointers by Herrmann and Mia Cotton, cutting the lead to 53-52 with 4:33 left.

Both teams went through a scoring drought, and the Royals tied it at 54 with 1:30 left on a Herrmann layup.

“I think under pressure in the past we haven’t done so well,” Betz said. “But we definitely did tonight and that’s what got us the win.”

Charlise O’Donnell had a steal on the next possession after Herrmann’s layup to get the ball back for the Royals, but they missed two shots with the chance to take the lead.

The Timberwolves didn’t miss their chance, with Ally Keilman connecting on a fast-break layup for a 56-54 lead with 56.5 left. Payton Murphy missed a pair of free throws for the Royals and the Timberwolves hung on.

“We played hard,” Hinckley-Big Rock coach Bob Barnett said. “Recently down the stretch we’ve made some mistakes and that’s kind of costing us right now.”

The Royals nearly had another chance to tie after an inbounds pass went wild, but Gretta Oziah sprinted after the ball and saved it from going out of bounds, diving and throwing it off an H-BR player.

Oziah also scored 13 points and was 11-of-13 from the line, and made two free throws with 11.5 seconds left to push the lead to 58-54. She also finished with 11 rebounds.

“Greta had a huge game, especially at the free-throw line,” Muchmore said. “That was nice to see. And I thought she did a much better job rebounding in the second half.”

The Timberwolves picked up their second win in a week against the Royals after beating them in the semifinals of the Little Ten Conference Tournament last week, 53-33.

It continued the trend of the two teams moving in opposite directions. The Royals have lost nine of 10 while the Timberwolves have won eight of their last 10.

Barnett said it’s errors like running the wrong plays out of timeouts that are starting to add up for the Royals and snowballing.

“We’re making some mental mistakes,” Barnett said. “It’s just little mental things that are kind of frustrating, but effort was there. Hopefully we’ll snap out of it soon.”

Bethany Odle finished with 10 points for the Timberwolves, who overcame 20 turnovers in the win. Ally Keilman added eight points, four rebounds and three steals.

Herrmann led the Royals with 19 points and Grace Hall had a team-best 10 rebounds. Cotton had 13 points, three steals and three rebounds.