HANCEVILLE — For the final 5:51 of Monday’s game, Good Hope played as if its season depended on it — and it did.

Trailing by 18 points early the final stanza, the Class 4A No. 1 Lady Raiders put everything they had into pulling off a seemingly impossible comeback inside Wallace State’s Tom Drake Coliseum.

In the end, though, the Red and White fell heartbreakingly short, losing to No. 2 Deshler 63-60 at the Northwest Regional Tournament and ending their fantastic campaign with a 31-3 record.

The teams played to a 16-all tie after the opening period, but Deshler parlayed a 22-10 rebounding edge — the Lady Tigers netted nine second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds — into a 26-23 lead heading into the break.

Unfortunately, it all came unraveled for the Lady Raiders in the third quarter.

Deshler swished five 3-pointers in the pivotal frame, outscoring the Red and White 29-16 during those eight minutes to build a 55-39 advantage.

The Lady Tigers eventually upped their lead to 61-43, seemingly putting the game out of reach.

But Good Hope fought back valiantly, orchestrating a 16-1 run over the next 5:02 — Ivey Maddox (nine), Heather Tetro (five) and Bailey Tetro (two) each contributed to the spurt — to pull to within three (62-59) with 0:49 remaining.

Deshler then missed a pair of free throws, giving coach Justin Aby’s squad a chance to tie.

Maddox, however, missed a tough 3-point attempt, and Ali Henson sank a free-throw to put the Lady Tigers ahead 63-59 with 9.1 seconds left.

Good Hope’s Rudi Derrick then drew a foul with 0.7 seconds remaining and made her first free throw before intentionally missing the second.

But the buzzer sounded, putting an end to Good Hope’s state title dreams.

Deshler will play Priceville in the title game on Thursday at 9 a.m.

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Top Scorers

Good Hope: Ivey Maddox (21), Heather Tetro (19), Bailey Tetro (8)

Deshler: Ali Henson (18 — 17 rebounds), Raegan Rickard (14), Cooper Thompson (11)

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Coach Speak

“I felt like we struggled at times rebounding. On the defensive end, I thought (No.) 30 (Henson) … I’m looking at the stats. She had 17 rebounds. And then she ended up with 18 points. That was a heck of a recruiting job there. But we just struggled rebounding. At the end of the day, our girls battled but came up short. We were down, but we battled back to cut it to three. I was proud of their effort and proud of them battling back. But it’s just a tough way to go out.” — Justin Aby

“Overall, a remarkable season for the Lady Raiders. We probably played one of the tougher schedules that any Cullman County team has played. I really hate that today came up short. But one thing you can’t question is our girls’ effort. They battled to the final play. It’s a special group. We’re going to really miss Rudi Derrick and Bailey Keef. You can’t ask for anything better in terms of senior leadership. We also have several returners. The last three years we’ve made two Elite Eights and a Sweet 16. This group says they want more than that, but we’re going to have to continue to work so we can take it to the next step.” — Justin Aby

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Player Speak

“We just have to work on our games. I feel like we missed a lot of open shots. It’s just work on our shooting and whatever else we feel we messed up on.” — Heather Tetro