They sent the Wildcats to the free throw line for eight shots in the extra period. While West Johnston couldn’t miss their charity shots in the opening minutes of the game, they couldn’t hit them when they needed to in overtime and dropped a 58-56 heartbreaker to the Knights.

“We had control of the game and just let it get to that point,” Knightdale coach Anthony Byrd said. “We had to fight to the end. I had to let the girls know we had to get stops to win the ball game, and they made the stops.”

In a game that saw both teams use lengthy runs, the free throw line proved to be the downfall of the Wildcats, who slipped to 3-4 over and 1-2 in the Greater Neuse River 4A Conference.

“We missed 19 free throws,” said West coach Bill Pepicello. “And we were 2-for-8 in overtime. It would have been a different game if we made some of those foul shots.”

West connected on all eight free throw attempts in the first quarter in keeping pace with the Knights, who improved to 2-5, 1-2 in the league.

But the ‘Cats began misfiring in the second and third periods from the floor and the free throw line, enabling Knightdale to go on a 20-5 run over the course of about six minutes and build a seemingly insurmountable 37-21 cushion midway through the third stanza.

Leading the surge for the Knights was point guard Ajee Smith, who sliced and diced her way through the Wildcats defense, scoring six of her total of 14 points on the night.

But it was more than her scoring that keyed the Knights. It was her ability to find the open teammate and in overtime it was usually Persia Brown who was targeted to propel the Knights.

Brown led the Knights with 16 points, with eight of those coming on back-door cuts in the extra session to keep Knightdale ahead.

Behind Smith, Knightdale used a balanced scoring attack on its run, but as quickly and easily as the Knights built the lead it all came tumbling down behind West’s Shorty Frederick, Jarmeia Holder, Shay King and J.P. Preston.

Frederick, who led all scorers with 17 points, ignited the rally with a pair of baskets, while Preston and King added buckets to cut the deficit to 37-29 at the end of the quarter.

West continued its surge in the fourth, closing within 39-33 on baskets from Frederick and Preston, and free throws by Frederick.

Knightdale stopped a near 8-minute drought without a bucket by Brown assisted by Smith, but managed only three points the rest of regulation while Holder and King chipped in 10 of the Wildcats’ final 11 points of the period.

Poor free throw shooting kept West from taking the lead, as they missed on 4-of-5 attempts in the final four minutes.

Then in overtime, the Smith-to-Brown connection worked time and again, giving the Knights a 48-44 lead 24 seconds into the period.

After two Smith free throws extended the Knights’ lead to 50-46, Holder hit a trey to trim the deficit to 50-49.

Frederick added a pair of free throws to knot matters at 51-51, but the Knightdale connection worked for two more buckets and a 55-51 edge.

Tanay Smith gave West new hope with a trey, slicing the deficit to 55-54, but Lovely Locklear, who scored 13 points for the Knights, gave Knightdale the breathing room it needed on a baseline drive with 25 seconds to play.

West cut the margin to 57-56 and had several opportunities to take the lead, but Frederick missed two free throws and came up short on a 3-point attempt and a follow-up shot at the buzzer.

“It was a good win for us,” Byrd said. “West Johnston has some really good guards, and that’s one of the better teams they’ve had in a while in my opinion.”