Ava Garcia was ready to go and make a play if she needed to.

After junior Kalin McCrea gave St. Viator the lead over Geneva with her first free throw with 1:01 remaining in the Class 3A Woodstock North supersectional, the second one bounced off of the rim and right to the direction of Garcia.

And once it did, she only had one thought run through her mind.

“I just knew I had to get the ball and score,” the sophomore said. “I knew my team trusted me with the ball, and I knew I could do it.

“I knew that if I got it and scored, we were winning this.”

And after securing her 10th rebound of the day and getting the basket and the foul, she did just that.

Garcia’s put-back basket put the Lions up by three, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish to earn a 46-43 victory over the Vikings, securing their first appearance in the state tournament for the first time in program history.

“This is just rewriting the history for this program,” Lions coach Kyle Braheny said. “It’s a special thing to be a part of, and it’s a credit to all the players that bought in and believed in the program and in each other. We just had to be us out there.”

The Lions (22-14) will go on to face Washington in the Class 3A state semifinals Friday at CEFCU Arena in Bloomington.

Garcia finished out the contest with 10 points and 10 rebounds. All 10 of her points came in the second half, with her put-back securing the double-double and making it a 43-40 game with 55 seconds remaining.

“She’s the most well-rounded player I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach,” Braheny said. “She does it all. She’s one of the best two-way players for us. And the best part is that as a sophomore, she’s ready to accept any challenge.”

Geneva (18-15) never backed down from the challenge, which was on full display in the fourth quarter. After starting the frame down 34-29, the Vikings went on an 11-2 run, with a 3-pointer from senior Keira McCann and a layup from freshman Adelyn Estabrook making it 40-36, their first lead since the first quarter.

“They’ve battled all season long, and I knew it was going to happen,” Vikings coach Sarah Meadows said. “It was a really good battle. There were runs on both sides. I thought when we were up by four that we just needed one more basket, and we just couldn’t get it.”

The Vikings ended up making it back to a 44-43 contest after a three-point play from sophomore Emma Peterson (six points) and 22 seconds remaining. But on the ensuing inbound play, junior Bella Gouranis ended up getting fouled and sent to the free throw line with a chance to make it a three-point game again, and did not miss.

“It was just a relief to hit those two free throws,” Gouranis said. “It just put us in an even better spot.”

Gouranis led the Lions with 15 points in the contest, with 11 of them coming in the first half. The junior sunk three 3-pointers in the first half, helping them take a 26-20 lead into halftime.

“I’m the most confident in my 3-point shooting of all my skills,” Gouranis said. “My teammates always know when I’m hot, so they know how to get me open and they’re really good at getting me those assists.”

McCann finished the game with 13 of her game-high 20 points coming in the second half, including seven straight points in the fourth quarter. She also took the last shot to try and tie the game, but had it bounce off the rim at the buzzer.

“We had a great run all season, especially towards the end,” McCann said. “And at the half, I just told myself that if it’s going to be my last game, why not give it your all and make it not the last. We came out fast, it just wasn’t enough.”

The Vikings also excelled when it came to grabbing rebounds on both sides of the ball, out-rebounding the Lions 34-20. Peterson led the way with 12, senior Ella Wilkison had nine and McCann was there with six.

“That was a big mentality for us all season,” McCann said. “We knew we were going to be pretty big and we were going to use that to our advantage all season long.”

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Meadows said she was extremely proud of the bounce back her team had after starting the season with seven straight losses.

“When you start 0-7, it’s real easy to go the other direction,” Meadows said. “These kids bought into what we were trying to do, they enjoyed being around each other, they liked playing together and they kept battling and got better. We’re young too, so it’s just learning how to adjust in games and got stronger and better. It was a great run.”