Averie Sheppard never really had time to think about the shot. Considering all that was riding on it, that was probably a good thing for Notre Dame's sophomore guard.
Dribbling outside the arc as the final seconds evaporated, Sheppard faked out a defender then launched a 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded with her team trailing by two points.
Sheppard said afterward it felt like the worst shot she had taken all night when it left her hands, but she changed her opinion after the ball rolled around the rim and dropped through the net, lifting the Lady Fighting Irish to a 52-51 win over Chattanooga Christian in the Division II-A East District 2 championship game Friday at Notre Dame.
"I had confidence in myself, but when I finally got the shot off it felt terrible," said Sheppard, who led her team with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. "Honestly it was an ugly shot, but when it went in I had tears streaming down my face. I'm on cloud nine right now."
Chattanooga Christian won the boys' district title in the nightcap with a convincing 58-40 victory over Notre Dame.
John Rhodes and Traveon Scott led the Chargers with 14 points each, and Trevon Scott added 12. The Chargers (22-5) used a second-quarter surge to pull ahead and continued to pull away in the second half.
Derwin Lewis scored a game-high 15 points for Notre Dame (19-11).
The CCS girls led throughout the first half, building a 12-point lead and maintaining a double-digit advantage for much of the second quarter. But Notre Dame (22-9), which had won both regular-season meetings of the teams, began chipping away in the third quarter, including a 9-0 run midway through the period that was followed later by five straight points to pull even.
The Lady Chargers (20-7) rebuilt their lead to five on Addie Henry's short jumper with 2:53 remaining. But Sheppard connected on a 3 seconds later, and Notre Dame got within two on a pair of free throws by Kate Ford, then retook possession late to set up the last-second heroics.
"CCS shot lights out in the first half, and we knew we couldn't get it all back at once," said Lady Irish coach Jason Hill. "We just had to focus on each possession, crawl back in it, and by the end of the third we knew we were back in it.
"That last shot was just an unbelievable effort by Averie. She did a great job of working to get open and then hitting such a clutch shot for us."
Henry scored 16 of her 26 points in the first half, and Kate Dirkse added 17 for CCS.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.