Brandon Carr/MDN Bishop Ryan sophomore forward Sydney Upton takes a shot during the second half of Tuesday night's game against Westhope/Newburg in Minot. Upton's last-second basket gave the Lions a 47-46 victory over the Sioux.

Sydney Upton could not have imagined a better time to score two points.

After a series of missed threes on Bishop Ryan’s final possession, Upton found herself directly under the basket. Upton read the ball’s path as it careened off the glass, positioned herself in front of Westhope/Newburg defenders and scored a game-winning bucket.

The sophomore forward’s timely shot gave Ryan (1-0) a 47-46 victory over the visiting Sioux (0-1.)

“Adrenaline rushing, first-game jitters,” said Upton, who scored her lone points on the final basket. “Sylvie (Kramer) took that shot and thought it was going in. We got a rebound. Nora (Kramer) took that shot, and I saw that it was a little short. I stayed under there for position and just shot it. I knew I had to finish. I knew we didn’t have much time left.”

With just 0.6 seconds remaining, the Sioux had to scramble. A tipped pass led to a sideline inbound play, but Westhope/Newburg didn’t have enough time to get a shot off.

“We’re resilient, for sure,” Ryan head coach Roger Coleman said. “We started off with a big deficit. I think it was 8-0 or 6-0 before we even got anything going. We were down pretty much the whole game, but we battled the whole game. I know we are resilient.”

Indeed, the Lions trailed after each of the first three quarters. Both teams showed rust early on, with turnovers plaguing the contest.

“We will have to look at the game film to see the fine details of what we really need to work on,” Coleman said. “I thought it was a little sloppy, but it was the first game. Looking at the film, we’ll know what we need to learn. We need more practice, for sure. We’ll see what we need to work on and really fine-tune.”

Westhope/Newburg played suffocating defense from the opening tip. After the defeat, head coach Bob Beaudrie found solace in that facet.

“I think our No. 1 goal going in is always the defensive philosophy,” Beaudrie said. “That’s our goal — to always be tough-minded and make things chaotic for teams. Tonight, for the most part, I thought we controlled the tempo. They made the shots when they needed to make the shots, but I thought overall that we controlled the tempo and the pace of the game.”

Both teams battled through initial struggles. The Sioux held a slim 26-21 lead at halftime, but Ryan hung around.

Grueling second-half action paved the way for the Lions’ final pounce. After sealing the victory, Ryan players rushed to their bench in celebration.

“I was really excited to come out in the first game of the year on our home court,” Upton said. “We already got the momentum going for the season, and we’ll be ready for the rest of the games. It was really fun.”

Ryan’s student section bursted with emotion when Upton’s shot dropped through the net. The passionate fans caused pandemonium in the Lions’ Den.

“They were awesome,” Upton said of the student section. “It was really great to have their support. They got really excited on that last play. We all heard them, they were really loud. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Junior guard Nora Kramer led the Lions with 13 points, while freshman guard Magee Rovig added 10. Of Ryan’s 17 made field goals, seven came from beyond the arc.

“All the girls are ready to go,” Coleman said. “They’ve been working hard. The game is tough right out of the gate. A lot of energy, but we’ve got to try to compose that and play under control. We didn’t really do that for the whole game, but found a way to win.”

Westhope/Newburg will face Stanley at 1:15 p.m. at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Dec. 6, while Ryan and Kenmare will continue the Auditorium action at 4:45 p.m.

Jimmy Lafakis covers Minot High School sports and Class B high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @JJLII30.