She fairly skipped back on the defense, when the thing was done. It was late Saturday morning in Memorial Coliseum. The ACAC girls tournament championship, a 62-51 Leo victory over Southern Wells, was down to scraps, the final seconds fleeing the scene.

And here came Leo guard Hannah Field, an enormous smile on her face.

She turned. Teammate Taylor Seiss was an arm’s length away. Field grinned wider, and she and Seiss emphatically slapped palms.

It was a gesture whose source you had to go back an entire year to find.

The genesis of Leo’s win in the ACAC title game was, Field admitted, fueled by what happened last year in the title game. Leo (13-2) rallied from way back to nearly swipe it from Garrett, only to see the Railroaders swipe it back with a putback as time expired.

Suffice it to say that was the top-grossing film of the week in Leo.

“Definitely,” said Field, who scored 11 points Saturday and was named the tournament MVP. “Before the Garrett game, we replayed the highlights from last year’s game just to get us fired up. Then we replayed it again today just to fire us up.”

It worked. The Lions held Southern Wells (11-3) without a field goal for 10 1/2 minutes in the first half to build a 26-14 lead, then watched the Raiders score 12 of the last 18 points of the half to make it a six-point game at the break. Then they outscored the Raiders 5-0 in the final minute to blunt a late Southern Wells rally.

Leo led 54-42 with 4:35 to play, but a short bank shot by Morgan Perry, who led all scorers with 18 points, drew Southern Wells within 57-51 with 1:18 showing. Two Kayla Woodward free throws and a press-busting layup by Seiss, who led Leo with 14 points and six steals, put it away.

Keanna Gary added 13 for the Lions, who weren’t entirely pleased that they were only up 32-26 at halftime.

“I know my girls were being aggressive, but I think we maybe put them on the line too much,” Leo coach Carrie Shappell said. “They’re a good team from the line – I think they were 11 of 12 at halftime. So we told them they have 11 of their 26 points from the line, and we’ve got to put a stop to that.”

The Lions did, forcing 11 of Southern Wells’ 17 turnovers in the second half and limiting the Raiders to just 3 of 5 from the line after halftime.

Giddiness soon ensued.

“Yeah, I don’t think they’d forgotten (last year),” Shappell said. “In the locker room one of my assistant coaches mentioned it and one of the girls said, ‘I think I got sick to my stomach.’ So I think that’s a little bit of a driving force for us, losing at the buzzer after a great comeback.

“I think the girls understand the gravity of this tournament. We talked in the locker room before the game it was our fourth championship game in a row – and now we’re .500.”

bensmith@jg.net