USC’s Ivy O’Rourke shoots a 3-pointer during a game earlier this season in the Rebels’ gymnasium.

Olivia Bungum’s basket with five seconds remaining in the game broke a 44-44 tie to give the No. 9-seeded United South Central Rebels a 46-44 victory in girls basketball over the No. 8-seeded Nicollet Raiders in Nicollet on Monday, Feb. 24.

The Rebels’ next game was against the No. 1-seeded team from Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s. That game was played on Thursday night, Feb. 27, in St. Peter. Check next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register for the results of that contest.

USC got off to a good start against the Raiders. Ivy O’Rourke opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and baskets by Taylor Schroeder, Bungum and Alivia Bruegger helped the Rebels build a 9-4 lead less than six minutes into the game.

Unfortunately for USC, they would not score another point for the next 10-plus minutes.

Turnovers and cold shooting plagued the Rebels while the Raiders built a 24-9 lead.

Bungum’s basket from outside the arc finally broke USC’s drought with 3:56 in the first half and made the score 24-12 in Nicollet’s favor.

The Raiders added four more points before the buzzer sounded ending the opening stanza and the Rebels found themselves in a 16-point hole heading into the final 18 minutes of play.

The second half began and it was now the Raiders who couldn’t seem to get the ball to go through the hoop. Meanwhile, the Rebels began to make more of their shots and when Schroeder grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup, USC had cut Nicollet’s lead to five points at 31-26 with just under 11 minutes to play in the game.

It took another six minutes before the Rebels would finally tie the game. Trailing 36-34, Schroeder caught an inbounds pass and took the ball to the hoop for a bucket and a 36-36 tie with 4:31 remaining in the game.

Thirteen seconds later the Raiders regained the lead 38-36. USC tied the game at 38-38, 40-40, 42-42 and 44-44.

With the game tied at 44-all, Nicollet took possession of the ball with the scoreboard clock showing 53 seconds left to play in the game. After the Raiders missed a shot attempt, the Rebels got control of the ball with 28 seconds before the end of the game.

At the 18-second mark USC put the ball in the hands of Bungum. After dribbling the ball out top while the clock ticked off the seconds, Bungum drove towards the corner to the right of the hoop before suddenly making a cut at the baseline and heading for the basket. She released a floater that went through the hoop for the winning points with six seconds left. By the time Nicollet called a timeout, only five seconds remained in the game.

The Raiders got the ball across the mid-court line when play resumed but failed to get off a quality shot which gave the Rebels the win and the chance to advance to the next round.

Bruegger just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. However, she did break former USC player Val Sahr’s single-season rebound record of 297 which was set in 2009.

Bungum also tallied 16 points in the game while Schroeder finished with nine points and seven rebounds and O’Rourke finished with five points and seven rebounds.

With the win, USC improved their overall record to 15 wins and 12 losses.