Surrey’s Ava Keller drives baseline against Our Redeemer’s Hannah Conway during a regional qualifier at the Minot Municipal Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 14. Mike Kraft/MDN

The Surrey girls basketball team doesn’t mind taking the path less traveled, as long as that path leads to the Region 3 Tournament.

For the second consecutive season, the Mustangs found themselves with their backs against the wall after dropping their quarterfinal matchup, and both times they have advanced out of the district tournament.

This year’s journey through the district tournament might have resulted in a bit more stress than Surrey coach Ron Aberle would have liked, but it culminated in a return trip to regionals. Laney Will hit a 3-pointer with 1:30 remaining in overtime to give the sixth-seeded Mustangs the lead for good, eliminating fourth-seeded Our Redeemer’s, 56-54, in a regional qualifier on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Minot Municipal Auditorium.

“It took a lot of years off of me and I’ve been here a lot of years,” Aberle said. “I don’t know how many years I have left. It was a battle of heart and adversity and they kept fighting and fighting and came back.”

Surrey will be the No. 4 seed from District 6 and will play District 5 champion Kenmare-Bowbells in the quarterfinal round of the Region 3 Tournament on Monday, Feb. 23, at the same location.

The Mustangs (10-12) thought they were going to punch their ticket in the final moments of the fourth quarter after Isabel Meade drained a 3-pointer from the left wing to put them in front 48-46 with 7.2 seconds left.

“I was not expecting it,” Meade said. “I was wide open and we were down and we really needed that 3, so I just shot it and I made it and everybody got excited.”

Our Redeemer’s had one last gasp in them to save their season as Tessa Carlson beat the buzzer with a layup to force the extra session.

It was a one-possession game throughout the four-minute overtime period featuring four lead changes. Hazel Engelhard gave the Knights a 53-51 lead with 58 seconds left, but Will’s biggest 3 of her career ended the season for the Knights short of the region tournament for the second consecutive season. Will hit a pair of free throws for a three-point lead.

“Honestly, I felt pretty calm because I practice that situation a lot with my parents and my team,” Will said. “I feel like I was very calm and my teammates knew that we would get the win in the end.”

Will finished with 17 points, 12 coming via 3-pointers.

Engelhard missed on a potential game-tying 3 and missed the rim while intentionally trying to miss a second free-throw attempt in the final seconds. Engelhard finished with eight points.

“I had confidence that we would come out and finish the job,” Our Redeemer’s coach Hart Andes said. “I thought we had the momentum going into overtime with that final shot, but Surrey played a heck of a game. They had some girls that made buckets down the stretch and we made too many mistakes.”

Andes pointed to free throws as being one of the ultimate difference makers in the final score. The Mustangs went 14-for-18 from the line, while the Knights hit 12 of 23, leaving valuable points by the wayside. Surrey hit 3 of 4 free throws in overtime compared to 3 of 6 for the Knights.

“The difference was we missed free throws and missed easy shots,” Andes said. “We had some easy ones down low and we just missed them. The girls fought hard and that’s all I could ask of them day in and day out. We have a really young team, so looking forward we’re going to keep moving forward and getting better.”

Our Redeemer’s (12-10) led 25-19 at halftime and 33-27 after the third quarter, owning an eight-point advantage at one point. The Mustangs hung around and eventually grabbed a 39-38 lead on a 3-pointer from Emree Magnuson with 4:11 remaining.

Kadyn Braun scored five points down the stretch for the Knights, including a 3-pointer to give her team a 46-43 lead with 1:45 to go before Ava Keller got the Mustangs to within one and Meade drained her 3 in the final moments.

“We really wanted to get to regionals this year because we have a young group,” Meade said. “We wanted to keep the season going for the seniors. We just kept up our emotions and kept playing as a team and cheered each other on.”

Meade finished with 13 points.

The Mustangs are back in the regional tournament for a second straight year after dropping their quarterfinal round matchup both times. Last season, the Mustangs fell to Our Redeemer’s in the quarterfinals before rebounding to beat Bishop Ryan in an elimination game and Glenburn in the regional qualifier. This year, they fell to Berthold before eliminating Drake-Anamoose and Our Redeemer’s. Their two victories in this district tournament came by a combined six points.

“The way the brackets are set up, it gives you a second chance and that’s what we take,” Aberle said. “We talked (Friday) about how we don’t want to be done for the year, so we have to leave it all on the court and live to play another day.”

Lauren Strom and Hannah Conway finished in double figures for the Knights with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Strom and Braun were named to the district’s all-tournament team along with Will.

Keller led all scorers with 18.