Tuesday night’s contest between the Lockport and Lincoln-Way West girls basketball teams had all the makings of a great contest heading in. Sometimes, matchups that look good on paper don’t end up being what they’re made out to be.

Thankfully for the fans at Lincoln-Way West Tuesday, though, this one lived up to all the hype.

No team led by double-digits until the final two minutes as the game was regularly within one possession. Lincoln-Way West was in command the first quarter and Lockport was in command in the second.

A seesaw third set up an exciting fourth, but Lockport had no desire for things to get interesting again as it closed out the win 60-51.

Lockport (20-9) has now reached the 20-win mark for the second consecutive season. It’s the first time since 1984-86 that the Porters have had back-to-back 20 win seasons.

What made the victory all the more impressive was the Porters’ resiliency. They dropped four games in 10 days before beating Stagg on Thursday. Tuesday night’s road win made it two straight victories and one in which they trailed almost the entire opening quarter.

“We just had to be mentally tough,” coach Darien Jacobs said. “After those four losses we could’ve put our heads down and given up. We still decided to finish strong. We know every game remaining on our schedule is going to be a tough one. We just had to come ready to play and do a mental reset after last week with those four losses.”

Katie Peetz finished with a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) while Evelyn Ingram led the team in scoring with 14 points. Addison Way (11 points), Sophie Hynes (eight points) and Laura Arstikaitis (seven points) were huge as well.

No team scored for the first three minutes of play and Lockport didn’t make a shot from the field until 2:50 remained in the opening period. While Lockport found itself down 8-2 early, it started to rally once the first shot went in.

Hynes tied the game at 9-9 with a layup with just under a minute left in the first, which is how it remained until the second.

Mackenzie Roesner hit back-to-back 3s to start the second and put Lincoln-Way West back up by six, but the Porters tied it right back in short order. A 3-pointer by Goda Arstikaitis at the 5:10 mark put Lockport in front for the first time 20-19.

The Porters closed the half strong with a Peetz triple just before the buzzer putting them up 31-23 at the midway point.

“I thought we were getting better passes (in the second quarter),” Peetz said. “Getting extra passes to our teammates really helped.”

The third quarter saw Lincoln-Way West cut it to 33-31 on a trey by Reagan McCracken three minutes in. The Warriors kept the game within three points and got as close as one, including drawing within 43-41 on a 3 by Kaitlyn Weaver later in the period.

It was 43-42 entering the fourth, but a 3 by Peetz early in the fourth built some distance for Lockport and the Warriors ran out of gas.

“We just had to stay the course,” Jacobs said. “(Lincoln-Way West) is a really good team so we knew they were going to deal some blows and come out strong. We just had to stay consistent and that was basically it. We match up well with them and both our teams played hard.”

Lincoln-Way West (17-10) had won eight of its last 10 contests entering Tuesday, but was unable to secure another win. The Warriors were led by Roesner (13 points) and Molly Finn (12 points).

Coach Ryan White is hoping his squad will be able to find more discipline moving forward on a night in which they allowed Lockport to reach the free-throw line 27 times.

“This is probably the third or fourth game where our opponent has had over 27 free throws,” White said. “I think (Lockport) made 21. We didn’t match that at the other end and we can’t foul that much. We had to sit two starters most of the second quarter. We have to figure out a way to avoid it.”