Alex's clutch 3 lifts Timothy Christian past St. Francis

The shot originated from well beyond the arc and nestled nicely into the basket. Nothing but net.

But was Timothy Christian junior guard Sureya Alex confident she would make what turned about to the game-winning 3-pointer against St. Francis on Thursday?

Well ...

"Honestly, I don't know," she said with a laugh. "It felt good. I just shot it. It was like muscle memory. If it went in, it went in, and probably one of our bigs would have rebounded it if it didn't."

Alex's 3 with 17.5 seconds left countered a long-distance shot by St. Francis sophomore Kate Chaparro at 44.6 seconds. Spartans coach Sandy De Craene immediately called time out after Chaparro's shot and set up a full-court press, which took Timothy Christian nearly all 10 seconds in the backcourt to break.

But the Trojans (9-4) managed to work the ball inside, and then bingo, Alex was wide open at the top left of the arc and nailed the shot to give her team the 54-51 win.

"It's a play designed for a 3 from Sureya as she comes from the weak side, and it comes off a couple of double screens from our posts," Timothy Christian coach Jill Groenewold said. "If we don't get that shot, our posts are open after they screen and roll. It was pretty gutsy."

It takes more than one shot to win a game, though, and Alex got plenty of help. Junior forward Hannah Schuringa finished with a double-double - 23 points and 10 rebounds - and what's more, the Trojans were perfect from the free-throw line at 7 of 7.

Any of those factors don't happen, and it's probably a win for St. Francis (6-5), which had three players in double figures in scoring - junior Maggie Culver with 19, Chaparro with 14 and sophomore Katie Anne De Craene with 12.

"We didn't play our best game, for sure," Sandy De Craene said. "A lot of mistakes, missed rotations ... it's kind of hard to win a ballgame when you don't execute as a team."

Culver was a constant threat to score and did most of her damage in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line. She hit a 3 with 3:40 left that pulled the Spartans to within 44-43, but 11 seconds later Timothy Christian freshman Grace Roland pulled together a three-point play that relieved the pressure. Less than a minute later, Schuringa's layup extended the lead to 49-43.

"If I'm being honest, I'm really frustrated," Schuringa said of her performance. "I felt like I missed a lot of opportunities. I think I was really rusty after Christmas break. But I guess it didn't matter in the end, because we won."

Across the hallway Culver wasn't thrilled either, considering her team lost a tight one, but the silver lining was her evening. She shot better than 50 percent.

"It was all about my teammates," Culver said. "If they didn't get me the ball in those situations, I wouldn't have made shots."