Staff photo / Brad Emerine Poland senior Jackie Grisdale looks for a driving lane as Marlington’s Maria Warner defends on Saturday in the Bulldogs’ 40-38 win.

POLAND — The dream of every basketball player is to have the ball in the final seconds and attempt a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

The Poland girls basketball had that scenario play out in the opposite way during Saturday night’s home Division II district final against Marlington.

The third-seeded Dukes trailed 40-38 but had the ball with 11.4 seconds remaining on Poland’s end of the court. After both teams used timeouts, the second-seeded Bulldogs set a solid trap on the right sideline and scrapped to cover all other Dukes.

With time winding down, Marlington’s Chelsea Evanich raised up and took a contested 3-pointer that hit the back rim as the buzzer sounded, sending the Bulldogs into a wild celebration with the program’s fifth district championship.

“We had lady luck on our side,” Poland coach Nick Blanch said. “That ball could’ve easily gone in. We played tremendous defense all game long and we weren’t going to sit back and not be aggressive in that situation. We locked them on the side and our girls just hounded them. And still, the shot nearly went in.

“The whole game was like that. What a tremendous game by two teams that wanted it badly and really scrapped. Credit to Marlington. They were on a mission and we just swapped big plays the whole way.”

Poland improved to 22-2 and will play Perry in a regional semifinal Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. at Barberton. Perry, which was seeded first in the district, edged fourth-seeded Salem 41-40 in its district final Saturday night.

“This is incredible to win a game like this and give us a chance to keep playing,” said senior Jackie Grisdale, who led the team with 14 points. “Everyone on this team cherishes their role of defending and it tends to lead to offense. We really stepped up defensively in the final seconds, but that’s the effort we have the entire game. We know how important defense is, whether it’s deflecting passes, making steals or forcing bad shots or frustrating offensive-minded players. It’s who we are.”

The final margin of two points was the largest of the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs led 33-32 entering the final quarter and trailed 38-37 with 2:47 left. After two possessions resulted in missed Poland shots, Marlington whittled some time off the clock.

With 1:10 left, the Dukes’ Maria Warner went to the foul line for a one-and-one. She missed the first shot – the Dukes’ lone miss of the game as they finished 9-for-10 at the stripe.

Mary Brant gave the hosts a 39-38 lead with a bucket from the short left corner.

Warner then missed on a drive and Poland’s Morgan Kluchar rebounded. Grisdale was fouled with 23.7 left and split a one-and-one for the game’s final point, setting up Marlington’s final possession.

The largest lead of the game was 12-7 by Poland, which led 12-10 after the first quarter. The Bulldogs led 23-19 late in the first half, but Marlington scored five points in the final 18 seconds to lead 24-23 at intermission. In the second half, the largest lead was 32-29 by the Dukes with 1:43 left in the third quarter.

But Poland scored the final four points of the period on two free throws from Kluchar and a driving bucket by Grisdale.

Brant finished with 11 points and Kluchar added 10.

“We’re more than just Jackie and we showed that tonight,” Blanch said. “Morgan made big plays and then you have a freshman in Mary step up and take key shots when we needed them. She’s really improved this year and the future looks bright at Poland.

“This was a team effort to do this. Jackie is a great leader who brings them together and wills them through some tough stretches. She’s a tremendous leader. But I couldn’t be more proud of this team, the entire team.”

Marlington, which finished 19-4 and shared the Eastern Buckeye Conference title with Salem, got 15 points from Elizabeth Mason and 11 from Evanich.