Staff photo / Brian Yauger Girard’s Jessica Hansen, Caylee Wilkes, and Janaya Riley celebrate after the buzzer during Thursday’s game.

NILES — At one point during Thursday’s game between Niles and Girard, the Indians trailed by 20. They couldn’t get shots to fall, and the Dragons took advantage of everything given to them.

But Girard’s senior trio wasn’t going to let their team down. They rallied the troops and pushed back little by little. By the final buzzer, the Indians completed the comeback, taking down Niles, 54-50.

“You’ve got three seniors that love the game, and when you get down like that, you’ve got to look for their leadership,” Indians coach Joe Bornemiss said. “I know we got juniors that play for us that have played a couple years, but those seniors understand that this is the last time they’re going to play on the Niles floor. … You know you have to be positive with them. There’s nothing negative in the huddle. You try to get one possession at a time, then you move forward.”

After falling in a deep hole throughout the first quarter and part of the second, the Indians began clawing their way back.

At halftime, they cut the deficit to 10, trailing 35-25 at the break.

Girard continued clawing in the third quarter, inching closer and closer. They limited Niles to just eight points in the third, with four of those coming off a pair of fast breaks in the final seconds.

By the last two minutes of the contest, the Indians had tied the game.

In the locker room, Bornemiss focused on sticking with the game plan. Keep inching closer until the lead was theirs.

“I think my stat people told me we missed 10 or 12 layups in the first half. Uncontested set-play layups. If you make half of those, it’s a five-point game,” Bornemiss said. “We just talked about staying with the game plan, switching it up a little bit, go half-court, because (Niles junior Madelyn) Yost is very good off the dribble. We didn’t want her to beat us up the floor. Try to get it to a seven-point game, five-point game and then go from there.

Back in December, Girard beat Niles 48-46 at home. They were able to complete the season sweep with the win.

In the brutally tough Northeast 8 Conference, every win is massive, and every win is earned.

“There’s no down teams – none,” Bornemiss said. “When you’re playing in the NE8, you better be ready to play. To come on the road and win? Man, it’s tough.”

While the seniors got Girard on the right track, it was the youth who got the team rolling on the scoresheet.

Junior Caylee Wilkes led the way for the Indians with 22 points. Freshman Janaya Riley scored 14, and senior Ally Gassman added 10.

Niles was led by Kherington Stanford with 19 points. Ava Ferri scored 13.

While defense set the tone for Niles early, they weren’t able to withstand the counterpunch Girard had.

“I told them tonight that the defense is going to create our offense, and that’s what started us in the beginning, and just kind of fell short from there,” Red Dragons coach Chelsea DiPaolo said. “They went on their run, and we knew they were going to go on a run. They were going to make shots, but we just couldn’t keep up tonight.”

The first-year coach sees this as a growing opportunity and knows her girls will respond to it. While it’s a tough pill to swallow, there’s still basketball to be played, and she’s confident they’ll bounce back.

“It’s going to make us grow as a team. Up 20 and losing like that, they’re 100% going to grow from this experience,” DiPaolo said. “We had two sophomores out there tonight that didn’t play much varsity time much last year, so they had to step up, and we, like I said, we fell short.

On Monday, Niles heads to Struthers to take on the Wildcats. Girard plays host to Poland.

“We got to come out at a more consistent pace (against Poland),” Bornemiss said. “You can’t get down (big) and battle and battle and battle and battle. They’ve got a bunch of good scorers, well-coached, and we’ve got them at home, so that’s a plus for us.”