SAN ANTONIO — Veterans Memorial is in a girls basketball state final for the second time in three years. Not bad for a program in only its third season of varsity play.
Junior forward Reinha Williams hit a short jumper with 26 seconds left, lifting Veterans Memorial to a 45-44 nail-biter over Mansfield Timberview in the Class 5A state semifinals Thursday night at the Alamodome.
The Patriots (32-7) will play Frisco Liberty (30-11) for the championship Saturday at 3 p.m. Liberty beat College Station 44-41, in overtime, in the first 5A semifinal Thursday night.
Veterans Memorial, which opened in 2016, lost in the 4A state final two years ago in its first varsity season. Seniors Vivian Castro, Sahara Jones and Brenna Perez started on that team as sophomores.
"That experience makes a huge difference," Pats coach Christina Camacho said. "The younger girls have been talking to Sahara, Brenna and Viv. They played as sophomores here. They knew what it took. They didn't take it as serious then.
"They didn't know what they actually did as sophomores. I think they know what they did as seniors today."
Jones led the Pats with a double-double, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds. No other Veterans Memorial scored in double figures.
"It is very big," Jones said, looking ahead to Saturday's title game. "We want to go out with a bang."
Jones, who has signed with Texas A&M, cited "defense, rebounding and being patient," as the key factors in the victory. Veterans Memorial outrebounded Timberview 41-27.
"That's our motto every day," she said. "Defense, rebounding and be patient."
Frisco Liberty and College Station fought to a 38-38 tie in regulation before the Redhawks pulled out the three-point victory in OT. The Pats watched most of the Liberty-College Station game from the stands.
"They're like us," Jones said of the Redhawks. "They never give up, as you can see from the previous game that they had. But the thing that we have is passion. We've been here before. We know what to do. We have grit and we rebound better."
Williams had only eight points but she led the Pats with 12 rebounds and, of course, hit the game-winner.
"It was all a team effort," Williams said. "I just did my part. We never give up. Until all 32 minutes are gone, we're going to keep fighting. That's what we've done all season. It will be amazing to win it all. We've worked from the beginning, the first day we started school."
Timberview guard Nina Milliner scored on a layup to give the Wolves their last lead, 44-42, with 1:37 left. Veterans Memorial coughed up a turnover 16 seconds left, but Timberview guard Desiree Wooten missed a layup and Vets Memorial junior Marley Rokas rebounded with 50 seconds left.
Wooten fouled Rokas on the scramble for the play and Rokas made one of two free throws, leaving Timberview clinging to a 44-43 lead with 47 seconds left. But Perez rebounded the miss.
Perez missed a three-pointer with 33 seconds remaining, but the sequence ended with Williams scoring the game-winning basket seven seconds later.
The Wolves missed two shots before Milliner came up with a steal, but her layup was blocked by Jones with three seconds left.
Camacho said the Pats' grit won the day.
"They know to do that," she said "They've been battled tested the entire season. We knew. I turned to Coach Strap (assistant coach Paul Strapkovic) and I said, 'We're going to win this. Once again, it's going to be close.'
"They (Pats) just didn't stop fighting. They made turnovers. Normally, a kid will drop their shoulders and be upset. They don't. They just go back and fight."
Veterans Memorial shot 42.9 percent overall (18-42) and 28.6 percent (4-14) from the three-point line. The Pats finished with 17 turnovers compared to only three for Timberview.
Wooten led the Wolves with 16 points and Jasmyne Brown and Milliner finished with 12 and 10, respectively. Timberview shot 33.3 percent (20-60) from the field. They were 3 of 11 from beyond the arc.
Perez scored the last four points of the third quarter for the Pats, who led 36-34 going into the fourth period.
Castro nailed a three-pointer from the corner just before the buzzer to give Veterans Memorial an eight-point lead, 28-20, at the half. Castro hit 2 of 4 three-pointers in the first two quarters.
The Pats finished the half with a 12-4 run and back-to-back threes by Jones and Castro.
Jones led the Patriots' first-half scoring with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including 1 of 2 from three-point range. Jones also led Veterans Memorial under the boards with six rebounds.
The Pats shot 40 percent overall (11-25) and 37.5 percent (3-8) from three-point distance in the first half.
Timberview was cold in the first half, shooting only 30 percent (9-30). The Wolves were 2 of 6 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc.