Wilmington was up by two points with just over 10 seconds to play in Thursday’s home clash with Herscher when Sami Liaromatis stepped to the free-throw line for the host Wildcats.

The junior had split on her previous five trips to the line, but this time stepped up to knock down both shots and give Wilmington a crucial four-point lead over its Illinois Central Eight Conference opponent.

While the Tigers (7-16, 2-8 ICE) were able to knock down a shot at the buzzer, it was too little too late as the Wildcats (17-8, 7-4) managed to hold on for a 52-50 win.

Liaromatis’ final clutch free throws gave her a game-high 21 points in the win.

“It felt great to finally make both my free throws,” she said. “It’s amazing to get a conference win, and communication really helped us. Our defense was incredible tonight and overall we worked really well moving the ball around.”

While Wilmington eventually came out on top, it was Herscher that had the hot hand early on.

The first nine points for the Tigers came on a flurry of 3-pointers from Pippa Dunnill, who ended up going 4 of 5 from deep in the opening frame.

Herscher shot 7 of 10 from 3-point range in a first half it led by as many as nine points before taking a 32-27 advantage into halftime.

Liaromatis scored a pair of quick baskets to open the third quarter to get the Wildcats back within a point, and after Herscher grew its lead to 34-31, Wilmington’s Keeley Walsh scored six straight points to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game.

Walsh, who finished with 17 points, said the team came out of halftime with confidence despite a slow opening half.

“We knew we were going to have to battle hard to get back in it,” she said. “I figured just find a couple open shots, some good shots, and we’ll be back in the game. I wasn’t worried and I knew we’d be able to pull it through.”

Herscher pushed back, taking leads at 40-39 and 42-41 and tying things up at 44-44 before Liaromatis put Wilmington back on top for good.

Something that was vital for a Wilmington team trying to hold onto a late lead was the fact that Herscher had just one 3-pointer of the second half after its hot first half.

Walsh finished with a team-high four steals and said she felt the team’s defensive tweaks at halftime helped them limit the Tigers’ shooting.

“Coming out in the first half, they shot a lot of threes on us and got a lot of open shots,” she said. “Coming out in the second half, and going into man, we kind of shut them down.”

Herscher’s lone 3-pointer in the second half came when Haubner drove and kicked out to Laney Mohler, who knocked down the shot with 30 seconds left to cut Wilmington’s lead to 49-48 and keep the Tigers alive a little longer.

Herscher head coach Tim McElroy said that late shot and Dunnill’s hot start provided further proof that the team’s shooting work in practice is translating to games.

“(Dunnill) is coming off of five 3-pointers the night before, and had four in the first half,” he said. “When she gets hot she’s a really tough matchup.

“...Senior Laney Mohler had a really great night and a clutch 3-pointer late in the game (on an assist) from Leia Haubner. That was a really cool play for our team, to make the right decision and give it up.”

Haubner finished with a team-high 14 points ahead of Dunnill with 13. Audrey Hoffman added 10 points while Mohler had nine on a trio of 3-pointers.

Wilmington’s Nina Egizio had six points and eight rebounds to finish third on the team in scoring behind Liaromatis and Walsh. Taylor Stefancic added five points.

As the Wildcats look to close the dwindling regular season strong and hit the impending postseason with momentum, head coach Eric Dillon said he wants to see his team to remain consistent to close out a season that has had its ups and downs.

“With our ups, and our games I feel like we play well, I feel like we’re pretty hard to beat,” he said. “When we play with good confidence and patience, that slows the game down for us and we make better decisions.”