0:27
More VideosView All
By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

Holy Cross senior NaTasha Thames didn't have time to think.

So when she missed both free throws and Elizabeth Seton got the rebound with a chance to win in the final seconds, Thames just went for the ball and got a steal.

Then the ball came to her.

Thames caught a 30-foot heave from teammate Dominique Johnson in the finals second and laid it up off the glass for the game-winning basket as the horn sounded in Sunday's WCAC semifinals, sending Holy Cross to a 46-44 win over the Roadrunners Sunday at American University.

Holy Cross (21-7), who has now won 13 straight games and 18 of 19, will now face Good Counsel in Monday’s WCAC finals at 6 p.m. at American University.

“I knew it went in,” Holy Cross coach Russell Davis said of the shot. “It was unbelievable.”

Holy Cross had the final possession in regulation and pushed the ball inside to Thames, who had just seven points to that point. The idea was that the Tartans would get a layup or foul called and it worked perfectly as Thames went to the line with 10.5 seconds remaining.

The only problem with that plan is that Thames doesn’t like being on the foul line.

“I was really scared because I haven’t been doing well on my free throws,” Thames said. “I was shaking a little bit.”

Thames clanked both shots and Seton got the rebound. But Thames knocked the ball loose and into the hands of Johnson.

“I was just going for the ball,” Thames said. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

With time running down, Johnson heaved the ball towards the hoop but it was just short and wide. But it was right into Thames’s wide-open hands.

“I knew it wasn’t going in,” Thames said. “I just took it as a lob.”

Led by Alex Stelfox's game-high 16 points, Seton took a six point lead midway through the third quarter. It was the largest margin of victory in the tight game.

Holy Cross trailed by two points entering the fourth quarter, but took a six-point lead on back-to-back three-pointers by senior Lia Henry, who at that point was scoreless and was in the game because of an injury to Channell MacKey (four points) and because Tyonna Williams (13 points) fouled out.

Henry also hit a pair of three-pointers against the Roadrunners on Feb. 20 after the Tartans trailed by 11 points in the final three minutes, leading Holy Cross to a regular season sweep over Elizabeth Seton (21-5).

“She’s hit some real, real big shots,” Davis said. “They just keep digging and digging and digging. I’m real proud of them, real proud.”