MARYSVILLE — The Highland Christian girls — the whole team back and energized — showed grit and determination as they held off a tough North Sounds Christian team, winning the teams’ third and final meeting 43-39.

Almost the entire game passed without one team getting an advantage on the other, until the final minutes when Highland Christian senior Chelsey Graber drew a foul on a drive to the hoop. She missed the free throw, but her basket increased the Knights’ lead from 41-39 to the final score.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said Highland Christian coach Steve Brown after the Jan. 28 win. “We came out with a man-to-man defense, which we hadn’t showed them. That helped us, I think.”

While Graber led the Knights in scoring with 18 points, she enjoyed a lot of support from her teammates in this game. Sophomore forward Jade Olin had a 10-point game, eight of those points coming in the second half. Esther Brown, Kaila Graber and Aly Hodges each added four points, with seven different girls scoring in all.

Key in this game, said Brown, was to shut down the Lions’ top players, Melissa Castor and Hannah Reymore. The girls were held to 13 points each and the Knights hold a 2-1 advantage in the series this year.

“I think our decision to press in the second half helped because they couldn’t quite get into their offense,” Brown said. “We needed this bad because we’re going to face a lot of good teams like this in the playoffs.”