Erin Buchanan may have been rubbing the Blarney Stone for luck early Saturday evening.
The Shenandoah Valley senior forward said she needed some good luck to sink a game-winning field goal against an old nemesis at Martz Hall.
As time was winding down in overtime against Nativity in Saturday's District 11 Class A quarterfinal, Buchanan stood along the left baseline when the ball found its way into her hands.
There was no time to think.
Buchanan just reacted and let the ball float out of her hands. The ball swished through the net as time expired, giving the No. 6-seeded Blue Devils a 33-31 victory over No. 3 Nativity.
The victory advances Shenandoah Valley (14-9) to Wednesday's semifinals, where they will play No. 7 Tri-Valley, a 63-8 winner over Salem Christian, at 6 p.m. at Martz Hall.
Buchanan's heroics also helped her team atone for two losses to Nativity during the regular season.
Buchanan was a stickler throughout the second half as she picked her teammates up when the Devils' three standout shooters were collared by the Golden Girls' defense.
Nativity (16-7) designed things to take away the 3-point shooting of guards Abby Snitzer and Kristina Nieddu and center Marcella Creasy.
Buchanan needed to become a player in a hurry. She scored all nine of her team-leading points in the second half.
"I was nervous before, during and at the end of the game," Buchanan said with a broad smile. "I just needed to make that shot. I never thought about it for a second."
Shenandoah Valley coach Chris Conroy said, with the way Nativity had taken away his three top scorers, he was hoping Buchanan would respond.
"It was her best scoring night of the year," Conroy said. "The way (Nativity) had its defense, we made some second-half adjustments to get (Erin) the ball. She did a great job."
Nativity coach George Forney said the defense did exactly what it was supposed to do.
"We wanted to shut those three players down, and we did," Forney said, noting Snitzer, Nieddu and Creasy combined for 24 points.
"They kept hanging around and we didn't (put) them away. We allowed them two points in the first quarter, but we obviously didn't have enough scoring of our own."
Nativity led 5-2 after one quarter and 14-9 at halftime. The Lady Devils responded to open the second half, as Creasy sank three foul shots and Buchanan netted three straight field goals to give Shenandoah Valley an 18-16 lead.
Snitzer then drained an NBA-range triple from the wing as the Devils sprung to a 21-18 lead after three quarters.
"I really thought we had some good chances to (expand) that lead when we started the last quarter," Conroy said.
Instead, Shenandoah Valley got too anxious after building a 27-24 lead on Creasy's bucket from the paint. Nativity went on a quick 4-0 run, as Emily Field hit a shot and Keegan White collected a steal and layup to give the Golden Girls a 28-27 lead.
Buchanan was back in the spotlight again, as she nailed one of two foul tries to tie the score at 28. The Golden Girls had a big opportunity to win the game in regulation, but missed two foul shots with 0.6 seconds remaining, sending the game to overtime.
Shenandoah Valley struck first in the extra session when Nieddu drained a triple before Nativity scored the next three points to tie the game again at 31.
Olivia Andrefski, the game's leading scorer with 10 points, hit one of two foul tries and Allison Warren tied it with 20 seconds to play as the Devils turned the ball over off Nativity full-court pressure.
That set the stage for Buchanan's shot.
"Sometimes you get a little lucky," Conroy said. "It looked like we were going to turn the ball over and another overtime was going to happen."
Instead, Buchanan ended up with the ball and the game-winning shot.