Aubrey Lamberti took a couple of steps after she scored her historic basket and stopped.

Teammate Annabelle Williams pointed her toward a jubilant Oswego East bench as fellow senior Desiree Merritt jumped into Lamberti’s arms. Other teammates mobbed Lamberti, jumping up and down around her.

“I was kind of shocked,” Lamberti said. “I felt the support of my teammates.”

Putting back a Merritt miss midway through the second quarter of Friday’s game, Lamberti became the all-time leading scorer in Oswego East school history, boys or girls.

She ended the surprise party in proper fashion.

Lamberti swished two free throws with 10.2 seconds left, sealing Oswego East’s 71-67 win over visiting Minooka in a Southwest Prairie Conference thriller.

“So exciting to get the record and a lot of fun,” Lamberti said. “I just had to stay focused at the end and block everything out, not let anything get in the way of that. It’s obviously a big win for us.”

Merritt scored 23 points and Lamberti 18 for Oswego East (12-6, 6-1), which won to stay a game back of Bolingbrook in the SPC. The Wolves overcame a monster effort from Kent State commit Madelyn Kiper, who scored 35 for Minooka (15-6, 6-2).

Lamberti came in to Friday’s game tied with Christine Corpuz at 1,304 career points for most in Oswego East program history.

Not that she knew.

“I had no clue,” Lamberti said. “My dad always asks me if I want to know where I am, but I always tell him no. I just want to play my game and when it comes, it comes.”

That unassuming nature doesn’t come as a surprise to Oswego East coach Abe Carretto, who has now coached Lamberti for four years.

“I mean, what can you say? She was conference MVP last year, but she does it in a way that’s not quite noticeable,” Carretto said. “I call it the Larry Bird effect. People were surprised at how good he was. I think some people are surprised at how good Aubrey is and all that she does for us.”

Fellow four-year starter Merritt, who scored her own 1,000th point in December, isn’t surprised at what Lamberti can do.

And she was in on the surprise Friday.

Merritt scored eight points in the first quarter to keep Oswego East within 17-14 while Lamberti missed her first four shots.

“It was exhilarating to see her do it,” Merritt said. “We’ve been playing together for four years. I was definitely trying to get her points right off the bat.”

Lamberti scored 13 of her 18 in the second half, her driving layup with 3:16 left giving Oswego East the lead for good at 63-61.

After Kiper scored on a drive with two minutes left to close Minooka within two, Lamberti made a tough driving score over the 6-foot-1 Kiper as the shot clock was winding down to make it a two-possession game.

“I had to step up and lead my team,” Lamberti said. “Coach was saying to be aggressive, to take the ball to the hole when they pressured me.”

The two teams were tied 52-52 after three quarters and Minooka twice led in the fourth, the second time at 59-58 on Jaelle Hamilton’s 3-pointer with 4:27 left.

But the Indians had three turnovers in a four-possession stretch while the Wolves surged ahead.

“Two good teams, back-and-forth game, a few things went against us in the fourth quarter,” Minooka coach John Placher said. “We gave up too many layups and had too many turnovers. Can’t do that in a game like that.”

Kiper scored 24 of her 35 in the first half, many of them off Oswego East turnovers, playing the point of Minooka’s 1-3-1.

Minooka led 38-33 at half, but Oswego East went ahead 45-3 on a Merritt 3-pointer, one of the Wolves’ 10 in the game.

“It was really hard to deal with that 1-3-1 and Kiper is unbelievable,” Carretto said. “We moved the ball a lot better in the second half and girls were hitting shots.”

And not just Lamberti and Merritt. Oswego East’s bench outscored Minooka 13-2.

“And we were missing a girl who’s been starting Inspire Fisher, she’s in concussion protocol, she’s been helping us a lot,” Carretto said. “I thought Sam [Herrick] and Annabelle did some great things tonight, contributing some buckets, diving on the floor to get those 50/50 balls at critical points. It was a dogfight.”

In an odd scheduling quirk, Oswego East, which has now won six straight, plays at Minooka on Tuesday in its next game.

“This one was important,” Merritt said. “We want to win conference and they’re one of the better teams in our conference so we needed it.”