Grace Brunscheen got the ball right in front of the Sycamore student section as the fans chanted for her to shoot.

The Kaneland sophomore forward decided not to let the opposing fans down, firing off the deciding 3-pointer with 1:27 left in the Knights’ 56-51 road win over the rival Spartans in an Interstate 8 Conference game on Friday.

“It was really loud and the student section was telling me to shoot it,” Brunscheen said. “You’ve got to do it. I was like, OK, I’ll shoot it.”

Brunscheen’s 3 gave the Knights (6-3 overall, 3-0 Interstate 8) a 52-51 lead, the 18th and final lead change of a game that also featured five ties.

On the next possession, Sycamore (6-3, 2-1) had a couple of looks at the basket to retake the lead, but each bounced off the rim and one finally ended up in the hands of Brunscheen for her fourth rebound of the game.

Kaneland’s Amani Meeks connected on a layup down the other end, pushing the lead to three, then a missed 3-pointer by the Spartans and a rebound by Lillyana Crawford sealed things up.

“We miss a bunny and they go down and score an immediate layup,” Sycamore coach Adam Wickness said. “That’s a four-point swing. In a tight game like this, which we knew it was going to be, those moments matter. It’s kind of amplified. It’s a great learning opportunity for us and something we will continue to stress and work on.

Brunscheen rolled her ankle earlier in the week, missed the Knights’ 35-16 loss to Dixon on Wednesday and didn’t practice Thursday. The team’s leading scorer, she didn’t start and didn’t score until the second half.

Brunscheen ended up playing most of the fourth quarter due to Kalie Brown and Kyra Lilly fouling out. She scored seven of her nine points in the final 5:29 of the game, including going 4-for-4 from the line.

Brunscheen said she was focused on just making her free throws down the stretch. Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said that was just one element of her game that was on display in the fourth despite any lingering effect of the injury or rustiness.

“Anytime you can get Grace with a little opening, we’ll take that look,” Claesson said. “She was kind of rusty in the beginning of the game but she played through it and that was an unbelievably clutch shot.”

Sycamore led 15-7 in the first quarter after a bucket by Sadie Lang, who finished with a game-high 27 points. Kaneland scored the next nine to take its first lead of the game.

After that, aside from the Knights briefly leading 41-36 for about the 30 seconds between a Sophia Rosati layup and Quinn Carrier buckets, the game was within three points until Kaneland pulled ahead five in the final 10 seconds.

“It gives us a lot of nerves, at least for me personally, but it also brings the adrenaline up here for everybody,” Brunscheen said. “It’s just back and forth and we’re all ready for the next play. If we make a mistake we all just move on and forget about it.”

Meeks led the Knights with 16 points and added five rebounds and three steals. Rosati added 10 points while Brown had a team-best six rebounds.

Carrier finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven steals for the Spartans.

“It’s a battle and we knew that’s the way it was going to be the whole game,” Wickness said. “They’re defending champions of our conference, they’re going to want to come on to your home floor and beat you. They’re real physical and we’re going to have to match that. And I thought we did for the most part.”