Veritas Christian School's Adi Williams, right of center, wraps her arms around Susan Wilson at the end of regulation as Marteka Carlton, left, Becky Finger, right, and other teammates come in to congratulate Wilson on making what proved to be the game winning free throw with seconds remaining Thursday night against Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy at the Eudora Community Learning Center.

Eudora ? She had just had a career night, but Veritas Christian sophomore Kristie Tiegreen was left talking about her admiration for a teammate after Thursday’s 52-51 girls basketball victory over Hyman Brand.

“I think it’s a lot of stress,” Tiegreen said, “being an eighth-grader playing varsity games.”

Susan Wilson can tell you all about it. With the game tied and 19 seconds remaining, the eighth-grader was put on the court to play defense and only shoot if she had a wide-open opportunity.

Sure enough, the 5-foot-6 guard received the ball on the elbow without anyone around her, driving to the basket and drawing a foul.

On senior night – an event that will take place in 2010 for Wilson – the guard sank her second free throw to give the Eagles the winning margin.

“She amazes me,” Tiegreen said. “She’s athletic, and she’s quick, and she has fire.”

Hyman Brand had one last chance to win it, but a guarded 18-footer from Katie Coppaken ricocheted harmlessly off the rim.

“I was really proud of how we stuck with it, gritted our teeth and made a good defensive stand at the end of the game,” Veritas coach Kevin Shelton said.

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Though Wilson had the deciding points, Tiegreen was the reason Veritas (10-10) was in it.

At only 5-8, the forward completely dominated inside. She ended her night with a team-high 20 points – but more astoundingly finished with 34 rebounds in the Eagles’ scorebook.

“My favorite thing is to outjump an opponent. What I love is to go an inch or two above them,” Tiegreen said. “I love man-to-man competition. I get fired up when I get to go against people that are bigger than me a lot of times.”

Vertias Christian School forward Kristie Tiegreen drives to the bucket in the fourth quarter Thursday evening during the Eagles' game against Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy at the Eudora Community Learning Center.

Grace Barclay contributed one of her best games, scoring five. The senior competed in her final home game after spending the two previous days in the hospital because of illness.

Hyman Brand boys 59, Veritas 53

The Eagles led by as many as eight in the third quarter but couldn’t hold on down the stretch against the Rams.

“We just weren’t consistent throughout the whole game,” Veritas coach Doug Bennett said. “It’s better to get a game like this out of our system before the state tournament. Hopefully we have some things to learn from this.”

The backbreaker for Veritas (13-8) came right before the end of the third quarter, when Scott Bratt’s 24-foot rainbow beat the buzzer to tie it at 41 and shift the momentum.

Mark Randtke led the Eagles with 18 points and 24 rebounds.