Freeport grabbed almost everything off the glass Tuesday, except the rebound that mattered most.

With Sycamore down a point in the final two minutes, Sadie Lang tore the ball out of Aaliyonna Fane’s hands and started the break that pushed the Spartans to a 58–57 victory in a Class 3A Sycamore Regional semifinal.

“It was definitely a lot [of frustration],” said Lang, whose rebound led to a pair of free throws for Grace Amptmann that gave the Spartans the lead for good. “We talked about how they got so many rebounds and we needed to box out. We didn’t really box her out but I tried my best to get the ball and get it up the court.”

The No. 6 Pretzels (22-10) needed barely four minutes to score 15 points in the fourth quarter, matching their biggest lead of the game at 48-41 with 3:57 left after a layup by Fane, who finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Lang answered with a 3-pointer and the No. 4 Spartans (22-10) forced Keagan Huggins to travel. While the Pretzels were dominating the boards, Sycamore forced 19 turnovers. All three fourth-quarter turnovers led to points, with the Huggins travel leading to a layup by Quinn Carrier.

“That’s what you want, right? You want to see that dog in them and see them get after it,” Sycamore coach Adam Wickness said of Lang’s play. “You have to play harder than them. ... I’m glad she did that because it showed a little fight in her, which is always what you want to see out of one of your better players.”

Huggins answered with a layup to push the lead to 50-46, but a steal by Macy Calendo led to a Grace Amptmann layup. After another stop, Calendo hit a free throw to cut the Pretzel lead to one.

Then came Lang, taking the ball right out of hands. The Pretzels finished with a 42-27 edge on the boards – and seven of the Sycamore rebounds were deadball rebounds.

“They definitely had the size, so it was hard to get them out of the lane even if we wanted to,” Carrier said. “We knew to try and keep them out of the lane on the layups. But obviously our offense really had to go good for the win.”

After Amptmann’s free throws, Huggins got the ball down low again for the Pretzels. This time, three Sycamore defenders collapsed in on her, Cortni Kruizenga forced the jump ball, and Calendo had a layup to put Sycamore ahead 53-50 with 1:10 left.

The Spartans maintained the lead but fouled Huggins late to give the Pretzels a shot in the final 10 seconds. Huggins made a layup to cut the score to 56-54 and had the chance for an and-one. She missed on purpose, and given the rebounding edge the Pretzels had in the game - they had 17 offensive rebounds - they had a good chance of getting the board.

But Huggins was called for a lane violation. Carrier sank two free throws with 3.6 seconds left to push the lead to four. The Spartans sat back on defense and let Aaliyah Martin hit an uncontested 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“With our energy, we know the game is never over until that clock has run out,” Carrier said. “Just keep going every possession, keep working as a team and keep getting those buckets.”

Freeport led by seven twice in the first quarter, but Sycamore had it tied at 14 in the second. There were four ties and seven lead changes.

Huggins finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Martin had 15 points for Freeport.

Carrier led Sycamore with 26 points. She was 8 for 10 from the free-throw line and 4 for 11 from 3-point range. Grace Amptmann had 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds, Lang had 13 points and six rebounds.

Sycamore forced 19 turnovers, leading to 19 points.

“We did a really good job converting the live ball turnovers into layups,” Wickness said. “That’s what you got to do, especially when you find yourself down seven with five minutes left or whatever it was.”

The Spartans, after an 8-23 season last year, will seek their seventh regional title in the last nine postseason when they face No. 2 Burlington Central on Thursday.

The Spartans lost 55-51 to the Rockets in the second game of the year for both teams.

“We’re just definitely ready to beat them, getting our chance to get back at them for beating us,” Lang said. “We’re ready.”