Shawnee and Catholic Central – young teams trying to find positive signs in losing seasons – haven’t had many opportunities like they had Thursday night when the score was tied with 29 seconds left.

India Davis, one of Shawnee’s two seniors left standing, tried to break the tie with a shot in the lane when she was fouled with 16 seconds left. She made the second shot and it was just enough for the Braves to pull out a 44-43 nonconference victory at home.

“You have to be calm in that situation because when you’re nervous it’s like you’re all shaky and you’ll miss the shot,” said Davis, who led the Braves with 14 points. “Just take deep breaths and try to make it.”

After Central’s attempted pass into the lane to leading scorer Paige Lewis was knocked away, the Braves were winners for just the third time this season and coach Lee Ann Ballard could take a deep breath.

“This is extremely important tonight,” Ballard said. “We’ve got to get these that we feel like we can really compete with in the W column.”

Shawnee has lost four players for the season to knee injuries, including sophomore guard Morgan Spitzer who was leading the team in scoring at 15 points a game before going down just before Christmas break. Senior center Chelsea Brown injured a knee in an open gym just before the start of practice.

“It has been kind of difficult,” said Ballard, whose team is 0-5 in the Central Buckeye Conference. “We’ve been struggling to fill roles. It’s the start of a new year, and we want to see how much we can compete the second half of the season.”

Central (1-11) is in a similar position with the senior Lewis leading a roster of mostly freshmen and sophomores. Lewis scored 26 points and almost pulled this one out for the Irish with 10 fourth-quarter points. Lewis is the team’s only player with varsity experience, its primary ballhandler and she played the entire game despite picking up her fourth foul late in the third quarter.

“The other ones are being asked to grow up fast, and they’re doing it,” said Central second-year coach Hannah Scherger. “We are certainly at a point where we can compete. The closer we get the more it stings. The younger girls are realizing how much it hurts to lose after you put all that effort on the floor, and they want to win.”