Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye’s Cadence Okerman drives to the hoop during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division girls basketball game against Lester Prairie Monday at Sleepy Eye High School.

SLEEPY EYE — With just 2.8 seconds left on the clock, Sleepy Eye’s Cadence Okerman was sent to the line in a tie game with Lester Prairie.

Okerman drained both shots to help seal a 74-71 win in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division girls basketball game on Monday.

“Just an adrenaline rush,” Okerman said. “But I stick to what I know. Just muscle memory at that time. Just let it fly, and they went in luckily.”

Okerman’s free throws came after Sleepy Eye came back from a 19-point deficit, going down 34-15 in the first half but fighting all the way to a 55-55 tie in the second half on a 3-pointer from Okerman.

“We just finally realized what defense they were in,” Okerman said. “We saw that the middle was open, so we tried to get baskets in that area. That seemed to help. And we also passed the ball around a lot and we started to see the ball go in, which is when we started to see the score rise and we started to elevate.”

Okerman finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and two steals, while Paige Haala had 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Taylor Berkner had 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while Sam Price had 9 points and four rebounds.

After an even battle early, Lester Prairie went on a 21-0 run to take a 32-13 lead. Haala finally got Sleepy Eye back on the board with a floater, then hit a layup and a 3-pointer before halftime to cut the lead to 36-20.

With still a lot of work to do, Sleepy Eye went on a 10-2 run to open the second, starting with a 3-pointer from Berkner and ending on a 3-pointer from Price to put the score at 38-33.

Lester Prairie responded with a pair of layups and two free throws around two Berkner free throws to push the lead out to 44-35, but a 3-pointer by Sleepy Eye’s Ava Kunkel made it a 6-point game.

The Indians continued to fight, with several more shots from behind the arc falling, before Okerman’s 3-pointer tied the game at 55. A layup by Haala gave Sleepy Eye it’s first lead of the second half, then a 3-pointer by Berkner put Sleepy Eye up 60-57. Another 3-pointer by Okerman saw the Indians up 63-57, but the Bulldogs fought back with a 3-pointer by Addison Hoof.

The teams battled back and forth, with Sleepy Eye maintaining a small lead. Two free throws by Haala put the Indians up 71-68, but a 3-pointer by Anah Lee tied the game for Lester Prairie. Okerman drew a foul, sank both free throws, then the Indians defense drew a five-second violation on the inbound, sealing the game.

With the win, Sleepy Eye improves to 15-7, 11-3 in conference and with an eye on the section playoffs.

“[The win] does everything,” Okerman said. “Such a big confidence booster, because it shows we are a team, and when we play as a team we can do great things. Going to the playoffs, if we stick to that, we should be able to go far.”

Sleepy Eye travels to Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop on Thursday.