Lauderdale County’s Ansley Shelton scored the go-ahead layup with a little more than 2 minutes remaining in overtime, but it was Shila Marks that brought the chickens home to roost.

Clinging to a single-point lead and playing a desperate game of keep away, the seas parted down the paint and Marks charged in for the clinching score before adding some extra free throws in the final second.

Despite a double-digit halftime deficit, the top-ranked Tigers rallied to force overtime and pulled away for a 58-52 victory over No. 2 Saint James in Friday’s Class 3A state championship game at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena in Birmingham.

Lauderdale County (34-1) trailed by as many as 18 points early in the second half as Kaitlyn Mitchell scored on consecutive series and capped a 9-3 run with a triple to give the Trojans a 36-18 lead not more than 3 minutes into the third period.

The Tigers cut the lead to 12 entering the fourth quarter and swung momentum in their favor.

Marks and Meredith Newton scored on back-to-back possessions and the former was fouled on a 3-point attempt. Marks converted all three free throws to cap an 11-2 run on a layup to pull Lauderdale County within 5 points almost midway through the quarter. Sarah Smith sparked a 7-0 run on a tip-in and the Tigers pushed ahead to a 49-47 lead with 1:06 remaining.

“It was just keeping our heads in it,” Marks said. “When we came in at halftime, there were some long faces, of course, and we’ve proven time and time again this past season. We just put our heads down and go to work. We know what we’ve prepared for, and we’re ready to go do it.”

Saint James point guard Natalie Barton tied the game on a pair of free throws with 44 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Marks gave the Tigers the lead early in the extra period, but Mitchell drained a 3-pointer to return the advantage to Saint James, but the Trojans would not score again. Shelton put Lauderdale County on top with 2:10 remaining and Marks sealed the deal on her layup and ensuing free throws.

Saint James (34-3) held a 12-8 lead at the end of the opening period and surged ahead on an 11-5 run in the second. A layup from Marks cut the lead below double digits, but Morgan Lilly converted a pair of free throws and spun through defenders for a last-second layup that gave the Trojans a 27-15 lead at the break.

“They’re a great team and they have some offensive threats out there on the floor and we knew we were going to have to play some really good defense,” Clemons said. “I don’t know about how good it was in the first half, granted, we just got off to a very slow start offensively.”

Star of the Game: Marks. The senior guard finished with a game-high 32 points on 11-of-15 shooting, including a 3-of-6 effort from 3-point range and a 7-of-10 showing at the free-throw line.

“It’s all the years of work and looking at it, it just means a whole lot. I’m pretty sure everybody saw me just almost strangle my mom after the game, because outside of practice, it’s hard, hard work and hours and hours and hundreds of thousands of shots that have gone into that game. It just makes it all worth it,” she said.

Stat sheet: Lauderdale County – Thomas had 10 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists and Meredith Newton added 7 points and 4 steals. Sarah Smith had 5 points and 8 rebounds, and Shelton contributed 4 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Saint James – Barton finished with a team-high 17 points and added 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Mitchell had 14 points and 4 rebounds, and Lilly had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. McRae contributed 6 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

By the numbers: Lauderdale County shot 45.8 percent overall, 31.6 percent from beyond the arc, and was 8-of-14 at the foul line. The Tigers forced 22 turnovers that resulted in 24 points and held Saint James to 40 percent from the field, despite the Trojans winning the rebounding battle 37-22 over Lauderdale County.

All-Tournament Team: Marks was named Class 3A tournament MVP and teammates Armani Thomas and Sarah Smith were named to the all-tournament team, along with Saint James’ Barton, Lilly and Jordan McRae.

Did you know? Lauderdale County extended its AHSAA record to 14 state championships, more than any other girls or boys teams, and is now three titles ahead of Pisgah’s girls and the R.C. Hatch boys. Hoover’s girls have a chance to tie Pisgah and Hatch tomorrow in the 7A title game.

Coachspeak: “It’s a long basketball game, even at halftime, there’s 60 more minutes. Pretty much just at halftime was just to keep your head up, so just keep playing and let’s just get out there and let’s just inch this thing back, just a little at a time, and keep getting stops on defense and that’s what we did.” – Lauderdale County’s Carla Clemons

“That’s a tough one, for sure. My girls, they’re young, but they’re fierce. They’re tough and they’ve been tough all year long, and they come out here on this big stage, and they really represented Saint James and our school community, they represented us really well. We talked about all of the time, keeping the main thing the main thing, we talked about keeping our standard the standard, and I’m really proud of all 13 of my girls for doing that each and every day in practice, and each and every day on the court of competition.” – Saint James’ Katie Barton

She said it: “For us to go back out there and fight, you have a gut feeling sometimes when you’re going to lose. Before the game, we didn’t. Halftime, we didn’t. Third quarter, we didn’t. Fourth quarter, we didn’t. Not one time did any of us think that we were about to lose the game.” – Smith