Staff photo/ Brian Yauger Springfield senior Regan Rogenski drives to the basket while being defended by Grand Valley’s Cloe Turk during Thursday’s playoff game in Orwell.

ORWELL — Springfield was on the doorstep of a tournament upset on Thursday, but the Mustangs continued their program-best season, fending off the Tigers, 44-34.

The 16th-seeded Tigers limited the Mustangs to one point in the third quarter to hold a 28-25 advantage going into the final frame, but the sixth seed’s offense came alive, scoring 19 points to get the win.

“(Grand Valley’s Riley Rowland) was out for a lot of the third quarter, so we were able to pick up the pressure a little bit,” Springfield coach John Matisi said. “With her in the game, it makes it that much more difficult. We just stopped scoring. We were ahead, but I felt like we had a couple bunnies, we had a couple free throws to maybe keep that pace. The air came out a little bit from us. They raised their level. They’ve had a tremendous year, credit to them. They were just a little better than us there in that fourth quarter.”

Grand Valley had one factor it had to overcome on Thursday: inexperience. The Mustangs lack any seniors on their roster, and, as a result of their play, they haven’t had to fight from behind very often.

“It shows some maturity and some growth,” Mustangs coach Zach Sirrine said. “I think we haven’t played a ton of close games this year, so the fact that they were able to turn it around (was great). We played Perry, and we were down 17, and came back and won that game. Hopefully, having that kind of experience built a little bit of a background for us to be able to come back tonight and kind of hold them back at bay, and then finally, get some stops defensively.”

Junior Reese Nims led the way for Grand Valley, finishing with 13 points. Sophomore Sophia Thirion added 11. Regan Rogenski paced the Tigers with 13.

Springfield’s season ends with a 10-13 mark. Despite losing six of their last seven regular-season games entering Thursday’s matchup, the leadup to the game was arguably the Tigers’ most productive week.

Entering the postseason on a skid is never a position a coach wants to be in, but from top to bottom of the program, the positivity never waned.

“We were just very positive all week of practice. This might have been our best week,” Matisi said. “We feel like we did a great job, and we had time to prepare, and we executed just tremendously well for a big part of that game. It really is a credit to the girls.”

Grand Valley continues its program-best campaign and advances to its next test on Tuesday, when the Mustangs play host to Mapleton.

“They’re a really tough team,” Sirrine said. “They’re gonna come out and be physical, which is good. We like to play a physical game. It’ll be a good test. They’re obviously a tremendous team. I’m looking forward to going out to get to compete again and see what we’ve got.”