It took 99 minutes and 52 seconds of soccer to produce a winner last night, and when the dust settled, Westfield-Chantilly defeated Cosby 1-0, a heartbreaking finish for the host Titans to a thrilling game. Playing a pass from Irvin Herrera, Bulldogs forward Sean Murnane, who will play for U.Va. next year, sent a shot off the right post, then collected his rebound and pushed it in for the game’s lone tally. An official told the coaches that only 8 seconds remained before the contest would go to a shootout.

With the humidity rising and the heat lingering, a sticky night of soccer rewarded aggressive play as Mills Godwin and Cosby punched their tickets to the state tournament. They’ll also play each other—for the first time—in tonight’s Central Region title game. Early rainstorms last night created tough conditions early. Each Eagles header made a splash in the small wading pool of sweat that the players had developed on their foreheads.

With more power than grace, Jazmin Pitts came down the edge of the court, driving for the basket. Cosby’s big center doesn’t often take the ball baseline to baseline, but with her Titans trailing Princess Anne by five in a Group AAA semifinal, she snatched the rebound from a missed one-and-one and headed for home. Elizabeth Williams, the Cavaliers’ 6-3 sophomore, met her under the Cosby basket. In a collision of four-foul carrying big players, Williams spilled onto the hardwood. Pitts dumped in the layup that would have cut the deficit to three.

The box scores from Thursday night’s Central Region basketball tournament semifinals point to a telling statistic about the Cosby and Atlee girls. The Raiders (24-3) and Titans (27-1) are scheduled to meet in tonight’s final at 6 at the Siegel Center, but the snowy weather will have something to say about that. Stamina will be a key factor when the game is played. These are teams of ironwomen. Each of Atlee’s starters was credited with playing 32 minutes in the Raiders’ victory over Mills Godwin. Tori Eberle, a senior, played in the waning seconds.

An honorable-mention all-Central District selection as a junior, Doug Brewer could’ve chosen to sulk when his coach decided he would be more valuable to his team coming off the bench this season. Instead, Meadowbrook’s 6-2 senior embraced the new role and tried to make the best of it. Brewer played it to perfection last night, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the visiting Monarchs overcame a slow start and cruised past Cosby 77-47 in a first-round Central Region tournament game.

When the shot clock is running, teams aren’t shooting. In college basketball, with the 35-second shot clock for men and the 30-second clock for women, teams tend to work the clock, work the clock, work the clock, then shoot.