VANDALIA — Fort Loramie rolled over rival Russia in both Shelby County Athletic League matchups in regular season and rolled in its first four tournament games.

Thursday’s regional semifinal between the two was nowhere near the same. Russia led by as many as nine points in the first half and gave the Redskins a battle.

But Fort Loramie scored the last four points to break a tie and beat the Raiders 33-29 in a Division IV regional semifinal on Thursday at Vandalia-Butler’s Student Activity Center. The Redskins are a win away from earning their first state berth in three years.

“This shows that we can push through, even when we’re down,” Fort Loramie senior forward Summer Hoying said. “We just need to keep bringing that.”

The Redskins (25-2), which were the top-ranked Div. IV team in the last Associated Press state poll of the season, advance to face Marion Local in a regional final on Saturday afternoon in Vandalia. The Flyers beat the Blackhawks 40-37 in Thursday’s first regional semi.

“They’ve improved, so we’ve got to come out and play our best game,” Hoying said. “… They have some very strong players. We’ve got to bring (our grittiness) and more.”

Fort Loramie won the 2021 D-IV title but lost in a regional semifinal the next year and in a regional final a year ago.

After coming up short in those two tight games on the regional stage, Fort Loramie won a nailbiter on Thursday.

“We kept our confidence up,” Hoying said. “We couldn’t look at the scoreboard. We couldn’t get in our heads or play with fear. We just had to go out there and play. It obviously wasn’t our best game tonight, but it shows the character of our team, that we pushed through and persevered tonight.”

Russia junior guard Addison Shappie made a free throw with a little under four minutes left to tie it 29-29. Neither team scored the next several minutes, but Hoying finally broke the stalemate.

Hoying took a pass from Avery Brandewie on the left wing, dribbled in and made a shot off the glass with pressure from Russia’s Roni Poling and Claudia Hoehne with 1:39 left to give the Redskins a 31-29 lead.

“It’s kind of a blur, to be honest,” Hoying said of her go-ahead basket.

Siegel credited Hoying for the shot and for the squad for finding a good look after a long possession.

“That was a huge possession, and I’m very proud of Summer,” Siegel said. “She’s worked on that move all year long, and it was good to see her shine in that moment.”

Russia (15-11) turned it over, but Fort Loramie then turned it over with a little over 30 seconds left. The Raiders drained off some of the clock and used their last timeout, and after taking it back in, worked it to Shappie in the left corner.

Shappie started her 3-point attempt without pressure, but Brandewie raced over and appeared to skim the shot, which hit off the side of the rim.

Hoying grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She split a pair of foul shots to push the lead to three points, and the Redskins grabbed the rebound off her miss. Jalen Rose was fouled and split a pair of free throws to push the lead to four.

Fort Loramie won its first four tournament games by margins of 49 points or more and had beaten Russia by margins of 38 and 23 points, respectively, in SCAL matchups in regular season.

But Russia controlled things in the first half thanks to strong defense and rebounding that limited Fort Loramie to mainly one-shot possessions. The Redskins continued to struggle shooting throughout, and Russia unofficially finished with a 31-27 rebounding edge.

Hoying and Loramie’s post players battled Poling and Hoehne throughout the night.

“They were strong players,” Hoying said. “I think we let people push us underneath the basket. We need to be stronger all around.”

The Raiders led 18-9 early in the second quarter, and after Loramie rallied, they retook the lead and stayed in it in the fourth.

“We did a terrible job boxing out today, and that’s going to bite you in the butt in big games,” Siegel said. “… We had a lack of turnovers (in the first half), and when you have girls in foul trouble like we did in the second quarter, you can’t press the way we want to press and play aggressive defense like we want. That hurt us today.

“You look at the myriad of things we did wrong today, not making bunny shots, not boxing out, fouling, and you come out with win in a regional semifinal, you’ve just got to be happy you get to play the next day.”

Fort Loramie finished the second quarter on a 6-2 run, and Brandewie hit a 3 in the first 10 seconds of the third to cut the gap to 20-18. Skyler Albers made a shot off the glass with 5:18 left to tie it, then after another scoreless stretch, Brandewie split a pair of free throws to give Fort Loramie a 21-20 lead.

But Poling made a basket shortly after with about three minutes left to put the Raiders ahead 22-21. The teams stayed close until Fort Loramie finally pulled away in the final seconds.

“I’m proud of the girls on the floor for not giving up, not hanging their heads,” Fort Loramie coach Carla Siegel said. “They kept battling. Our shots weren’t falling worth a darn tonight, and that’s hard. It’s hard to play when your little bunny shots, your layups, aren’t going in.”

“We did a good job putting pressure on them. We didn’t have (that many) turnovers. You would think after the game, when your team has (that few) turnovers, it should be a lopsided win. But if you don’t make your shots, it doesn’t account for anything.

“… We got lucky tonight. We talked to the girls in the locker room about it. ‘You guys got lucky tonight. There’s no more luck after this. You’ve got to take everything and earn it.’ Hopefully we’ll learn from this and play better on Saturday afternoon.”

Russia unofficially finished with 31 turnovers, 24 of which were in the second half. The Redskins unofficially had eight.

It’s the second straight year Russia and Fort Loramie have met in a regional semifinal. Fort Loramie won that tournament game 57-42 a year ago and won both regular-season matchups this year. The Redskins beat Russia 69-31 on their home court on Jan. 4 and 60-37 on the road on Feb. 2.

“A team like Russia, they had nothing to lose,” Siegel said. “They can roll the dice, gamble, do crazy things, and the ball bounced their way so many times tonight.

“It goes back to us not being us. I don’t think we played effectively tonight the way we can play. I give credit to Russia for that. They were intense tonight, they hit some big shots.”

Brandewie and Mescher each finished with six points, while Hoying, Rose and Maddie Shatto each scored five.

“We really worked as a team,” Hoying said. “We had to trust each other. No one was going to make the win on their own. We had to work together and pull through.”

It’s the second straight season Marion Local (20-7) has advanced to regionals; they lost by 12 points to eventual state champion Tri-Village last year.

Fort Loramie beat Marion Local 53-30 in a nonconference game on Feb. 13.

“We jumped out on fire, but they’re a good team too, and they’re not going to give us anything,” Siegel said. “We’re going to have to be more focused and deliberate with what we’re doing on the floor.

“… Marion always plays hard and has great tradition when it comes to girls basketball. They have a great coach, great athletes. It’s going to be another great battle on (Saturday) for 32 minutes.”

Saturday’s regional final is scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m. The winner will play in a state semifinal at 1 p.m. this coming Thursday.

RELATED: Video: Fort Loramie vs. Russia regional semifinal highlights

RELATED: Girls basketball: Russia can ‘keep heads high’ after strong effort against Fort Loramie

Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.