Serena junior guard Anna Hjerpe said she’s played out the situation she was in as the final seconds ticked down in the first half of Friday’s championship game of the 45th annual Little Ten Conference Girls Basketball Tournament against Indian Creek.

Hjerpe caught the ball on the left wing and swished a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

“Oh yeah, I’ve played out that kind of moment a lot,” Hjerpe said. “I feel like most of the time it’s like a last second shot to win a game in my mind but just getting a chance to be in that situation at any time and to be to make it was pretty cool.”

Hjerpe’s triple gave the No. 4-seeded Huskers a nine-point halftime lead and the momentum from the huge shot carried over into the second half as the hosts eventually posted a 43-22 victory over the No. 3-seeded Timberwolves to claim a fifth straight Al Stegman Championship Trophy on the court named after him.

“[Serena] Coach [Jim] Jobst said the main three things we needed to do tonight was to make sure we were boxing out; make sure we got back quickly on defense and to be patient on offense,” Hjerpe said. “The last time we played them [a 39-33 IC win on Jan. 8] they were able to hurt us beating us down the floor. I feel like we did pretty well with all of those things.”

Hjerpe led Serena (14-10) with 13 points, five rebounds and two steals. Kendall Whiteaker had nine points and five rebounds, Parker Twait six points and seven rebounds, and Brynley Glade (three assists) and Finley Jobst (four assists) each chipped in five points.

Serena led 12-9 after the opening quarter and closed out the second quarter on a hoop from Whiteaker and a trey by Alexa McNally before Hjerpe’s big 3 made it 24-15 at the intermission.

“The game plan was what you saw for the most part, be patient, get the ball inside when we could and look for the high/low pass,” Serena coach Jim Jobst said. “I thought we were a little too patient on offense at times, but once we built the lead up to 10 or so I wasn’t as concerned as long at the end of the possession we ended up taking a good shot.

“We talked at halftime about pushing the ball a little more, which we did a better job of, but the main message was to take care of the ball a little better than we did in the first half and to keep taking the best shot each time down the floor.”

The Huskers then essentially put the game away with an 8-0 burst to start the second half, three points from Whiteaker and rebound hoops from Twait and Hjerpe.

Ally Keilman led Indian Creek (10-9) with seven points, while Bethany Odle added five points and Gretta Oziah four points and seven rebounds. Madison Boehne posted a game-best eight rebounds for the T-Wolves.

Serena finished 16 of 38 [42%] from the field, while IC sank just 9 of 32 [28%]. Each side recorded 26 rebounds, while Serena won the turnover battle 17-12.

“Our goal was to get the ball up and down the floor, but we just struggled offensively for sure,” Indian Creek coach Paul Muchmore said. “Serena played really good defense and while we didn’t turn the ball over against their (full court) press, we just couldn’t get anything going in the half court.

“This year when we’ve struggled on the offensive end and dug a hole for ourselves, we’ve had a tough time finding a way to get back into games. The 3 they hit at the end of the first half was huge, it gave them all the momentum, and we just couldn’t find a way to grab it back from them in the second half.”

Indian Creek is back in action on Monday hosting Putnam County. Serena hits the floor again on Tuesday with a road contest against Reed-Custer.

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Boxscore

Little Ten Conference Tournament

At Serena

Championship game

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Serena 43, Indian Creek 22

SERENA (43) — Glade 2-4 0-0 5, McNally 1-3 0-0 3, Whiteaker 3-9 3-6 9, Jobst 1-2 2-4 5, Hjerpe 5-15 0-0 13, Mahler 0-0 0-0 0, Twait 3-4 0-1 6, Hoffman 1-1 0-0 2, Solbakken 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-38 5-11 43.

INDIAN CREEK (22) — Oziah 1-4 2-8 4, Keilman 3-4 1-2 7, Odle 2-8 0-0 5, Betz 1-8 0-0 2, Boehne 1-4 0-0 2, Kramer 0-1 0-0 0, Peterson 1-2 0-0 2, White 0-0 0-0 0, Hulmes 0-0 0-0 0, Edwards 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 9-32 3-10 22.

Serena (14-10) 12 14 7 12 — 43

Indian Creek (10-9) 9 6 4 3 — 22

3-point goals — Serena 6-16 (Glade 1-1, McNally 1-2, Jobst 1-2, Hjerpe 3-11); Indian Creek 1-7 (Odle 1-6, Betz 0-1). Rebounds — Serena 26 (Twait 7, Herpe 5, Whiteaker 5); Indian Creek 26 (Boehne 8, Oziah 7). Assists — Serena 12 (Jobst 4, Glade 3); Indian Creek 4 (Betz 2). Steals — Serena 6 (Hjerpe 2, Whiteaker 2); Indian Creek 6 (Oziah 3). Blocks — Serena 2 (Hjerpe 1, Whiteaker 1); Indian Creek 3 (Oziah 2). Turnovers — Serena 12, Indian Creek 17. Total fouls (none fouled out) — Serena 9, Indian Creek 13.