The North Moore girls’ basketball team lost a tough 73-71 conference matchup at West Montgomery Tuesday in overtime.

There was a lot riding on the outcome for the Lady Mustangs in their final Yadkin Valley Conference road game. If the Lady Mustangs had beaten the Lady Warriors and defeated North Rowan in their final regular-season game tonight, they would have been able to claim the conference’s No. 3 seed in the upcoming conference tournament, scheduled to start Monday. But, with the win, West Montgomery earned the third seed.

The fans that attended the game got their money’s worth in the battle of these two evenly matched teams. It was a contest of streaks that eventually turned into a nip-and-tuck game.

With the score tied at 60 with less than two seconds left, the Mustangs had the ball out of bounds. On the inbounds play, North Moore got off a shot as the buzzer sounded. The shot missed from the left wing from behind the three-point arc, but the Warriors fouled the shooter, sending her to line with no time showing on the clock.

The Mustangs missed all three shots, sending the contest into overtime. The two teams swapped buckets in the extra period, until Jessie Sheffield connected on a trey, putting the Mustangs up 69-68 with 1:40 left in the contest. The Warriors came storming back, scoring five straight points for a 73-69 lead. Tyisha Horn scored a bucket with two seconds left for the Mustangs, but it was too little, too late, as North Moore absorbed the 73-71 defeat.

The Mustangs go into their regular-season final against North Rowan with a 9-6 league record and 12-10 overall. North Moore has clinched fourth place for the tournament. Meanwhile the Warriors wrapped their regular season with a 12-4 conference mark and 12-6 overall.

The tournament is scheduled to start Monday at the higher seed’s court with the semifinals and finals being played at East Montgomery.

“We had it (the game) in the bag and let it get away,” said North Moore coach Sammy McNeill. “I think after they got the big lead, the officials want to make their presences known and be a part of the game. Even with the officials, it was a pretty good game for the fans.”

Senior Shakorya Brower once again turned in another outstanding performance with 25 points and 20 rebounds. Tiosha McCaskill also finished with a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards. Horn added 11 points and Sheffield nine. The Mustangs converted only nine-of-30 free throws, while the Warriors hit on 15-of-31 foul shots.

With so much riding on the outcome, the Mustangs started off fast, racing to a 16-10 first period lead. With Heather Dunmeyer hitting a trey, followed by back-to-back steals and layups by Brower, North Moore raced to a 23-10 lead with 6:38 left in the half.

The Warriors responded with a 13-2 run, closing the gap to 25-23 with 2:10 left in the period. Brower broke the Mustangs drought on back-to-back buckets for a six-point advantage.

After swapping baskets, the Mustangs went into the locker room with a 31-27 lead. To start the second half, once again the teams swapped buckets with West Montgomery tying the game at 33 and 35.

The Warriors got their first lead of the game when freshman Jasmine Diggs hit a driving layup with 4:32 left in the third period. This ignited an 11-0 run for the Warriors, putting them up by 11 points with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

The fourth quarter started with West holding a 47-38 lead and the two teams started off the final stanza swapping points. Finally the Mustangs started to find their offense with Brower and McCaskill finding the basket.

North Moore regained the lead at 48-47 when McCaskill had a putback with 4:50 left in the game. The Mustangs stretched their advantage to 57-52 when Brower hit a short jumper with 1:45 left.

Then it was the Warriors’ turn to make a run as they scored seven unanswered points for a 59-57 lead with 1:19 showing on the clock.

Dunmeyer tied the game for the Mustangs when she hit a layup off a steal by Brower. McCaskill gave North Moore a one-point lead, hitting on one of two foul shots. Diggs tied the game for West, also hitting one of two free throws with eight seconds left, setting the stage for the final events of regulation.

The Warriors outscored North 13-11 in the extra period for their two-point victory.

West was led in the scoring column by a pair of freshmen, with Danasia Dumas tallying 18 points and Diggs 16 points. Latoya Cuthrell added 13 points and Stephanie Lindsey 11 for the Warriors.

North Moore 16 15 7 22 11 — 71

W. Montgomery 10 17 20 13 13 — 73

North Moore: Shakorya Brower 11 3-11 25; Tiosha McCaskill 7 4-12 18; Tyisha Horn 5 1-3 11; Jessie Sheffield 3 1-3 9; Heather Dunmeyer 2 0-1 5; Casey Turner 1 0-0 3. Totals 29 9-30 71: 3-pt goals 4 (Sheffield 2, Turner 1, Dunmeyer 1).

West Montgomery: Damasia Dumas 8 2-4 18; Jasmine Diggs 5 6-10 16; Latoya Cuthrell 5 3-8 13; Stephanie Lindsey 5 1-3 11; Jennie Nicholson 4 1-2 9; Zadaisha Waddell 0 1-2 1. Totals 29 15-31 73:

Three-point goals: NM 4 (Sheffield 2, Turner, Dunmeyer); WM 0.