Aubrey Lamberti weaved her way upcourt in the final seconds Tuesday, waiting for a timeout to be called.

Until her coach gave her clarity.

“He just said, ‘Go!’ and I was like, ‘OK,’ ” Lamberti said. “Just do everything I can, get to the rim. Honestly, I don’t even know what was going through my head. Just doing whatever I could. I turned and boom.”

Oswego East’s senior forward got the ball from teammate Nicole Warbinski on a rebound of a Neuqua Valley miss, 84 feet from the basket. She didn’t give it up.

Lamberti went coast to coast in the last 10 seconds, her short runner in the lane rolling through the basket as time expired to give Oswego East a thrilling 35-33 win over Neuqua Valley in the Class 4A Benet Regional semifinal.

“I was coming across half court thinking he might call timeout,” Lamberti said. “I turned the corner and just went.”

Oswego East coach Abe Carretto indeed had a timeout to burn, but he chose not to use it.

Why would he?

At times the Wolves’ best offense is Lamberti, the program’s all-time leading scorer, getting the ball and just going.

“I don’t know why she hesitated, because she had the layup originally. She could have got way closer to the hoop,” Carretto said. “I’ll call the timeout if I want to call it. I just thought, ‘We get the ball, we go.’ There is less people on defense.”

Desiree Merritt scored 15 points, and Lamberti had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Oswego East (18-10), which advanced to face Benet in Thursday’s regional final.

Nalia Clifford scored 16 for Neuqua (14-17).

The Wildcats looked set up for the last shot after Neuqua’s Emerson McManis stole an inbounds pass with a minute left.

Neuqua milked the clock, while Oswego East gave three fouls. After a timeout with 17.1 seconds left, Clifford missed a contested jumper from the right wing with around 10 seconds remaining.

“It was an open shot. I missed it. Maybe shot the ball too soon,” Clifford said. “You don’t make them all. Hats off to them. They were able to get the ball down the court in four seconds.”

Merritt, playing with four fouls, made it a tough look for Clifford, a Wisconsin softball commit. Ja’liyah Shepard started out guarding Clifford, and helped hold her to 6-for-17 shooting, but Merritt switched on her late.

“Desiree’s defense was amazing, and Nicole’s rebound. The whole team doing the little things is what it possible,” Lamberti said.

For much of the game, Neuqua’s defense was the story. Oswego East routed the Wildcats 74-43 on Jan. 12, but Neuqua looked like a different team in the rematch.

The Wildcats, with their run-and-jump pressure defense in the half court, held Oswego East scoreless the last 4:50 of the first half for an 18-13 halftime lead.

“The last half of the season we’ve been playing like this,” Neuqua coach Mike Williams said. “We beat Naperville Central, we had Waubonsie within three with about a minute and a half left. It’s a group of seniors, and only one of them is playing basketball at the next level.”

Williams said Clifford, Neuqua’s best player, wouldn’t have played if the game was Monday, throwing up with the flu. She missed her first five shots Tuesday, but hit back-to-back 3s for the halftime lead. And then she kept it going with two makes out of halftime.

Clifford and Merritt, who scored 11 of her 15 in the second half, both made tough shots in a fourth quarter that featured four ties.

“Definitely not 100%,” Clifford said. “I was trying to conserve my energy. Definitely had to adjust my shot, thinking about it differently.”

Lamberti, held to just three points at half, made a 3-pointer on a Merritt assist on the first possession out of halftime. But it was Oswego East’s defense that held Neuqua scoreless the last 4:45 of the third quarter that allowed the Wolves to crawl ahead 25-24 on a Merritt 3-pointer.

“They were more up on us at the 3-point line, not letting us cut to do things we did in the first game,” Lamberti said.

Lamberti looks forward to the next game.

“We’ve never been able to make it to the second game in my four years,” she said. “It feels so good. So excited.”

Benet beat Plainfield East 66-24 in the first semifinal. Bridget Rifenburg scored 14 points, Hadley Engler 11 and Emma Briggs 10 for the Redwings.