This article was originally published by The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer on March 11, 2017 and can be found here.

Friday night’s Columbus-Carver state championship game proved wild, unpredictable and chaotic as the final minutes of the fourth quarter ticked away and overtime became necessary.

And frankly, it was the only finish the teams and their fanbases deserved.

Columbus seemed destined to cruise to the state title judging by its first-half efforts, but that outcome just didn’t seem right. The Lady Blue Devils and Lady Tigers wore out each other in their first three games this season, including the last meeting where a last-second 3-pointer was the game winner. A blowout in the biggest moment felt like the rushed final chapter of a captivating book.

We know now that a deciding 3-pointer storyline replicated itself in McCamish Pavilion, with Columbus’ Tatyana Wyatt hitting the shot instead of Carver’s Mya Millner. But for it to reach that point, when the Columbus senior forward hit the shot to give her squad a 69-67 victory, the Lady Tigers deserve a lot of credit.

Carver trailed by nine points with two-and-a-half minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and from the outside the team’s chances looked slim to none. The Lady Tigers’ deficit hovered around 10 points for most of the game, so a comeback remained highly unlikely.

But as the fourth quarter reached the two-minute mark, something changed.

Ja’Nya Love-Hill, Mariah Igus and Millner started the charge, while the Lady Blue Devils struggled to hold onto the ball and hit free throws. The crowd, which had increased with fans arriving for the following championship game, was thunderous, invigorated by the sudden momentum shift.

Alycia Reese had the task of coming through for Carver in the most intense moment, as she stepped to the free-throw line down two points with four seconds left. As the animated crowd went silent, Reese hit her first free throw, and then the second. The game was tied, and overtime was coming.

That page-turner from earlier? Well, it got the last-minute re-write it needed.

Overtime matched the tension that built in the fourth quarter, with each team taking a turn appearing ready to clinch the win only to stumble a little. It legitimately became a game no one knew who would win, which is the best way to describe most of the matchups in the Columbus-Carver series this season.

Wyatt said she knew from the moment she let the ball go it was going in, but there were still nine seconds left on the clock. The way this game had suddenly shaped up, Igus’ last-second shot could overshadow Wyatt’s heroics. Instead, it bounced off the glass.

Wyatt’s shot meant a banner for Columbus and broken hearts for Carver, but in all sincerity, the Lady Tigers should hold their heads high.

They were outmatched in size as they’ve been for most of the season, and it was part of the reason the game slipped away early. Carver chipped away in crunch time, and while Columbus answered in overtime, both squads were finally dueling again.

This was an exceptional season of girls basketball in Columbus, and an overtime thrill-fest proved to be its most justified ending.