STATE CENTER — Katy Reyerson didn’t call bank. She called game.

West Marshall’s 6-foot-2 all-state forward brought the hometown crowd to its feet and the Clear Lake Lions to their knees by banking in a 3-pointer from near halfcourt with 29 seconds left to lift the Trojans to an eventual 45-38 victory in Saturday’s Class 3A Region 4 final.

Third-ranked West Marshall (23-1) will make its 11th trip to the girls state basketball tournament after making a number of memorable plays. Reyerson’s shot, however, was unforgettable.

“Katy’s had a lot of big games but she’ll never have any bigger shot than that one,” said Trojan head coach Fred Zeller. “I’ve coached over a thousand games and I’ve never had an ending like that, with a banked three from midcourt, but she’s earned it. She’s played a lot of basketball.

“It wasn’t just a freaky shot. She aimed it and got a lucky bounce.”

West Marshall led No. 13 Clear Lake (21-3) for nearly the entire game until the fourth quarter. The Trojans were up by as many as 11 points, 25-14, before the Lions started to roar.

Clear Lake made its comeback when Reyerson went to the bench in the third quarter with four fouls. West Marshall’s advantage was cut down to two, 34-32, when Reyerson returned to the court with 5:38 left to play.

The Northern Iowa-bound left-hander made 1 of 2 free throws on the first possession, and sophomore guard Bella Borgos broke down her defender for a layup, boosting the lead back to 37-32. Clear Lake scored the next six points, however, to take its first lead since scoring the opening basket of the second period.

The two teams traded turnovers before West Marshall senior Lauren Solberg left an indelible mark on her final home game. With the shot clock winding down, Borgos penetrated the lane and kicked a pass out to Solberg, and the team’s fifth-leading scorer calmly stroked the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:01 to play.

Reyerson rebounded Clear Lake’s missed attempt on the other end of the court before Zeller called timeout. A lengthy delay ensued as blood was found on Reyerson’s jersey and shorts, but freshman Shelby Johnston sprang to her feet from the end of the Trojan bench and the two hustled out of the gym and down the hallway to exchange uniforms.

As Clear Lake’s intense man-to-man defense forced time to tick away on West Marshall’s next possession, Zeller threw his hands up at an apparent missed foul call. With crowd noise at a deafening level, a referee whistled the play dead for what he thought was a timeout signal with 3 seconds left on the shot clock and 32.5 seconds left in the game.

After a brief pause, the Trojans were forced to inbounds the ball from the coaches line in front of their own bench. Solberg lobbed a pass to Reyerson, who took two dribbles to her left, stepped back into the circle at center court, and heaved a desperation 3-pointer toward the basket.

Bank, rattle, swish, and pure pandemonium.

“I actually thought I had a shot,” Reyerson said. “I set my feet and I just tried to shoot the best shot I could and it went in. The crowd went wild, it felt so cool.”

Just like Zeller drew it up.

“I said ‘throw the ball to Katy’ because we only had three seconds, there wasn’t a lot of time to do anything,” he said. “If I had to pick somebody to shoot a halfcourt shot it’d be Katy because she can throw the damn ball from here to Rhodes.”

Clear Lake’s leading scorer Xada Johnson missed her shot on the other end, and the Lions still had two fouls to give in hopes of slowing the game down with free throws. Senior point guard Keatan Pfantz cashed both freebies with 2.3 seconds showing, bringing the score to its final and the game to its remarkable end.

“Last year was really upsetting for all of us (losing in the regional finals) and we knew that this year we had that same goal and we were going to get it this year,” said Solberg. “It feels great, especially our senior year with three of us seniors starting, it was now or never for this game and we took advantage of that.

“These last three regional games at home you don’t know if you’re going out there for the last time so you just work as hard as you can and leave everything on the court.”

Reyerson finished with a game-high 17 points to go with eight rebounds and five blocked shots. She sat with four fouls for two and a half minutes, when the Trojans did their best to stave off Clear Lake’s comeback.

Borgos finished with eight points and three steals, Pfantz and Solberg had seven points apiece, and Lily Zahnd scored six points. Solberg had eight rebounds and Zahnd added seven boards.

Pfantz finished just 1-for-8 from 3-point range but buried a big one on the first possession after Reyerson was sent to the bench. Solberg beat the buzzer at the end of the period with her first basket of the game, and she hit the same shot to start the scoring in the fourth.

“We had a couple seniors that took charge and Bella had to carry the load for a while just handling the ball just to get up court,” Zeller said. “Lauren pulled up and hit a couple of jumpshots and she hadn’t done that all year so she showed a lot of grit.

“I was so proud of the kids when Katy went out and they didn’t fold.”

Xada Johnson led Clear Lake with 15 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Ayla Johnson had 12 points and Reese Brownlee made three 3-pointers for nine points.

The Lions were denied their seventh trip to state in the last 10 seasons.

“I think this year’s been fun because we win but also I think it was some pretty high expectations, which sometimes puts so much pressure on you that you can’t perform,” Zeller said. “But these kids have been pretty consistent in what they do and of course they were always looking toward the state tournament. We won the conference and that was fun, but they felt like maybe we could’ve gotten it done last year and didn’t, it just didn’t happen.

“This is a very rewarding thing for all those kids but especially our seniors because this is it for them.”

West Marshall will meet seventh-ranked Sioux Center (18-5) in the opening round of the Class 3A girls state basketball tournament. The two teams will play the last of four quarterfinals, meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“We were so devastated from (losing) substate last year so we just thought this could be our last chance to show what we’ve got and we went out fully,” said Pfantz. “This is amazing.”

No. 3 West Marshall 45, No. 13 Clear Lake 38

CLEAR LAKE (21-3) — Jordan Mayland 0 0-0 0, Ayla Johnson 6 0-1 12, Xada Johnson 5 5-6 15, Reese Brownlee 3 0-2 9, Brooklynn Eden 0 0-0 0, Carsyn Holland 0 0-0 0, Annika Nelson 1 0-0 2, Madi Ott 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 15 5-9 38.

WEST MARSHALL (23-1) — Keatan Pfantz 2 2-2 7, Bella Borgos 4 0-1 8, Lauren Solberg 3 0-0 7, Lily Zahnd 3 0-0 6, Katy Reyerson 7 1-2 17, Reese Jensen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19 3-5 45.

CLEAR LAKE 9 7 9 11 — 38

W. MARSHALL 10 15 7 13 — 45

3-Point Goals–Clear Lake 3 (Brownlee 3), WM 4 (Reyerson 2, Pfantz, Solberg). Team Fouls–Clear Lake 9, WM 11. Fouled Out–none.