After a back-and-forth battle through three quarters, the Somonauk/Leland girls basketball team found the magic in the final six minutes of Thursday’s Little Ten Conference game against visiting Hinckley-Big Rock.

The Bobcats (10-11, 4-0), sparked by Kiley Mason scoring nine of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter, closed out the contest against the Royals (9-7, 3-1) on a 15-2 run to wrap up a 49-34 victory in a game between two undefeated teams in league play.

“I felt like we had a bunch of shots go in and out most of the game, but in the fourth quarter those shots were going in,” said Mason, a Leland senior. “Once a couple went in, I could feel everyone’s energy and confidence go up. We just grabbed the momentum and didn’t let it go.”

Mason hit 8 of 14 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-points range, grabbed seven rebounds, picked up three steals and passed off for three assists. Her triple and 15-foot jumper after an Abby Hohmann basket pushed a 34-32 lead to a nine-point advantage with four minutes to play.

“I feel like my role can change from game to game,” Mason said. “Sometimes it is scoring, other times it’s trying to find teammates for them to score and sometimes it’s a little bit of both. I felt like tonight a lot of my scoring was because of my teammates setting screens and driving and kicking to me for open shots. I hadn’t shot the ball that well the past few games, so it was nice to see the ball go through the hoop a little more frequently.”

Hohmann finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists for S/L, while Ella Roberts (six rebounds) and Leah Norris (eight rebounds) each added six points. The hosts hit 18 of 46 (39%) from the floor and won both the rebound (47-34) and turnover (11-13) battles.

“In that fourth quarter I felt like we started to do what we wanted to do effectively on both ends of the floor,” Somonauk/Leland coach Jason Zaleski said. “This was a battle back and forth through the first three quarters and then in the fourth we just started doing everything better.

“I feel like our spacing on offense was as good as it’s been at any time this season and because of that, as well as the girls setting good picks and sharing the basketball, we were able to get open looks and knock them down.

“This was a very good team win for us. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into next week’s conference tournament.”

Somonauk/Leland led 9-4 after the opening eight minutes, 19-15 at halftime and 30-28 heading to the fourth.

A pair of free throws by Mia Cotton, two of her team-best 14 points, tied the game at 30 in the opening 20 seconds of the final period and a drive by Payton Murphy at the 6:32 mark proceeded S/L’s game-changing burst.

Murphy and Anna Herrmann each recorded seven points and six rebounds, while Amelia Michels chipped in six points and seven rebounds.

The Royals missed all 11 of their shot attempts in the first quarter and finished 11 of 52 (21%) for the game.

“It was a two-point game there with six or so minutes to go, then they went on a run, we weren’t able to get a stop and weren’t able to put the ball in the hoop,” Hinckley-Big Rock coach Bob Barnett said. “For three quarters we were right there with them but just struggled to get much going in the final quarter.

“They have a deeper bench, and I thought that was a big key tonight. It was a tough game throughout and then in the fourth quarter we just ran out of gas. It’s been a struggle for us all season in that aspect as well as dealing with foul trouble, which we had to tonight.”

H-BR is back in action at Oregon on Saturday, while S/L is off until next Thursday as it takes on the winner of the Serena/Earlville game in the semifinals of the Little Ten Conference Tournament at Serena.