WEST VIEW - With a defender's hand lunging toward her face, Liz Burgard tossed up a 3-point shot with three seconds left.

Nothing but net.

The bucket pulled the Knoch girls basketball team even with Blackhawk at 41 Friday night and forced overtime.

"When that shot went in, I thought it was meant to be for us," Knoch coach Curt Vasas said.

It wasn't.

Renee Rawding's shot with 1:37 left in overtime gave Blackhawk (14-11) the lead for good in a 47-43 triumph over Knoch in a WPIAL Class AAA semifinal game at North Hills High School.

The Knights missed an opportunity to grab the overtime lead earlier when Cougars defender Lyndi Miloszewski got a fingertip on a Burgard short baseline jumper.

"If we get the lead there, the complexion of this game changes and we might be singing a different song right now," Vasas said.

Knoch (14-10) was trying to avenge a 65-43 loss to Blackhawk during the Butler Christmas Tournament. The 65 points marked the most Blackhawk has scored all year and the most Knoch allowed all year.

And the Cougars played that game without Rawding, the program's all-time leading scorer with nearly 1,500 points, who had a sore ankle.

"People were making way too big a deal about that Christmas thing," Blackhawk coach Mike DeChellis said. "I mean, this is playoff time. The intensity's up and everyone you play plays good defense."

But DeChellis had Rawding this time. And she delivered.

Rawding scored 28 points during a game in which neither team led by more than five. The game was tied seven times.

Rawding sank just two of seven shots in the first half and had eight points at intermission. She sank three 3-pointers in the second half.

"She kept shooting and the shots started falling," DeChellis said.

"I don't know to guard her," Vasas said. "She can play inside and score and she can sit outside and hit 3s. She's an offensive force for them."

Knoch had a 34-30 lead with 6:15 remaining, but it didn't score a point in the next 5:30 as the Cougars took a 38-34 advantage.

The Knights' Nicole Reiser ended the drought with two free throws, cutting the gap to 38-36. Noelle Miloszewski missed two free throws for Blackhawk, but Lyndi Miloszewski snared the offensive rebound, was fouled and drained both shots for a 40-36 lead with 29 seconds left.

Jennifer Robinson hit a short jumper for Knoch and Rawding made one of two free throws for Blackhawk, setting up Burgard's dramatic game-tying shot.

But the Knights couldn't find any offense in overtime, managing only a Reiser layup with three seconds left.

"This was a defensive struggle," DeChellis said. "I knew it would be."

Reiser led Knoch with 20 points and seven rebounds. Burgard added 12 points and Maria Frey six rebounds.

The Knights had 15 turnovers but turned it over just once in the fourth quarter and in overtime.

"Our girls played their hearts out," Vasas said. "We lost a lot of close games this season, but these five seniors accomplished more these past two years than anyone in the history of this program."

Those five seniors - Reiser, Burgard, Robinson, Frey and Lauren Koegler - will reach the PIAA playoffs only if Blackhawk defeats the North Catholic-Montour winner in the semifinals.

Blackhawk won its 50th playoff game against only 14 losses all time. The Cougars are in the WPIAL semifinal round for the 10th straight year.

BLACKHAWK 47

Lyndi Miloszewski 2-10 4-4 8, Chelsea Feltrop 1-3 2-4 4, Rebekah Gouldsbarry 0-0 0-0 0, Noelle Miloszewski 2-6 1-4 5, Renee Rawding 8-16 9-10 28, Krista Franitti 1-1 0-0 2, Maura Boggs 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 14-37 16-22 47

KNOCH 43

Nicole Reiser 7-11 5-6 20, Pam Gagen 0-0 0-0 0, Liz Burgard 4-11 2-2 12, Lauren Koegler 2-5 0-2 5, Liz King 0-0 0-0 0, Maria Frey 0-6 0-0 0, Jen Robinson 3-7 0-1 6. Totals: 16-40 7-11 43

3-point goals:

Rawding 3; Reiser, Burgard 2, Koegler