FORT WAYNE – Jomani Thomas could have been forgiven for thinking it was a mirage, at first. An open lane to the rim? On this night?

But there it was, tumbleweeds all but blowing through it, and so there she went. And not long thereafter Friday night, up the ladder she went, carefully snipping a strand of nylon as she and her South Side teammates celebrated a 41-39 victory over Bishop Luers in the championship game of the girls SAC basketball tournament.

Thomas’ basket with 10 seconds showing was the final salvo on a night when made buckets were a precious commodity, particularly, but not solely, if you were Bishop Luers.

The Knights bolted to a 12-3 lead in the first six minutes, but spent the rest of the night watching all manner of makeable shots go wanting, shooting 15 of 56 overall and a fruitless 5 of 29 in the second half, when Luers managed just 13 points.

That opened the door for a South Side club that struggled nearly as badly, managing just two field goals across a period of almost 10 minutes that spanned the last 2:45 of the second quarter and the first seven minutes of the third.

“We just weren’t that effective at the offensive end tonight,” South Side coach Juanita Goodwell said. “Defense is what won it tonight, and both sides played a heck of a game.”

It looked like a heck of a blowout early on, with Luers running out to its nine-point lead. But the Archers clawed their way back into it by scoring 18 of the next 26 points to take a brief 21-20 lead on a putback by Ariana Simmons with 2:45 to play in the first half – a resurgence notable for the fact that Goodwell didn’t call a timeout to ignite it.

“I don’t call that timeout,” she said. “I don’t call that timeout because my girls need to fight, they need to come through that on their own, and I needed to give them that chance. And they did it.”

Luers, which led 26-22 at the half and 34-33 going into the fourth quarter, tied it for the final time on Jamesha Ridley’s basket with 18 seconds to play.

That left it up to Thomas.

“I saw an open lane. I saw nobody in the lane. So I took it,” was how she called it.

Lakyn Gulley’s steal at midcourt then sealed it, handing South its second win over Luers this season and second SAC title in the last three years. Thomas and DeJoyah Johnson led South with 10 points apiece; Miracle Woods led all scorers with 17 for Luers.

The Knights reached the title game with a 56-47 victory Friday morning over Concordia, behind 13 points from Woods and 11 apiece from Brooke and Jamesha Ridley. South, meanwhile, advanced to the final with a 67-54 victory over Snider, building a 43-25 halftime lead and then cruising home behind Simmons and Johnson, who scored 15 points apiece, and Thomas, who added 13. Akilah Sims poured in 30 to lead all scorers for Snider.

“I think the team had heart. We never stopped playing, and we were dedicated,” Thomas said when it was all done.

“It was very physical. They’re good on defense and inside, obviously, and we did the same thing, so it was a good fight.”

And beating Luers for a second time?

“It feels real good,” she said.

“Everybody was saying the first game was a fluke. But we just came out … and just finished.”

bensmith@jg.net