T-L Photo/RICK THORP Shadyside’s Jaycee Mayeres (22) drives against River’s Riley Lollathin (2) during the first half of their OVAC Class 2A showdown Monday night inside the R.L. Potts Gymnasium. The Tigers stayed atop the standings with a 55-48 victory.

HANNIBAL — Monday night’s OVAC Class 2A girls’ basketball showdown between Shadyside and River was a marathon that evolved into a fourth-quarter sprint to the finish.

There, the Tigers broke away with an 8-0 run to start the period, then held on for a 55-48 triumph inside the R.L. Potts Gymnasium.

The victory kept Shadyside (14-3) atop the standings with the cutoff looming next Monday and avenged a six-point home loss to the Pilots (12-4) last week.

“It’s certainly a confidence booster to beat a team the caliber of which they are,” Shadyside head coach Serge Gentile said. “When you’re playing these types of games with two really good teams, it’s not going to look pretty, at times. These are the type of games you usually have to grind it out.”

Both teams did that through three quarters, with the Tigers ascending to a 41-38 advantage through 24 minutes.

Shadyside had the lead for most of the game. River, though, playing without an ill Alli Long, kept it close and trimmed a seven-point deficit to three at the close of the third on Carsyn Reynolds’ buzzer-beater.

From there, the Tigers took over.

Shadyside’s opening possession of the fourth was a patient one. They held the ball for what seemed like forever, looking for just the right shot. It finally came in the form of a Paige Gorby layup. Gorby made 1 of 2 from the free throw line moments later making the score 44-40, answering a Lauren Flannery layup at the other end.

Brooke Selmon canned a 3 on Shadyside’s next possession putting the LTs up seven and prompting River head coach Rick Isaly to call time with 5:28 remaining. The Pilots failed to score afterwards and Baylee Wach, who led Shadyside with 20 points, scored at the other end with 4 minutes left, making the score 49-40.

Flannery, who led the Pilots with a game-high 27, trimmed River’s deficit to seven. But with the Pilots down six, 49-43, the game became a free-throw contest as River started fouling with 1:39 remaining.

Shadyside was just 6 of 14 down the stretch, but the LTs snared three straight rebounds at one point and only allowed one River field goal the rest of the way to secure the victory.

“I think we rebounded the ball better this time. Much, much better,” Gentile said, referencing last week’s loss at the Tiger Den. “We gave up 14 offensive rebounds in the first half the first game and I think the girls took that as a challenge. They did what they had to do inside and did what they had to do to get loose balls and that really made a difference.”

Isaly said Long certainly would’ve helped inside and all-around, but he was proud of his team’s effort against what he termed a great team.

“I give our girls credit,” Isaly said. “We were down double digits and got it down to three. (Shadyside) did more than we did to win the game. I knew they’d come down here ready to play.”

With the teams deadlocked at 11-11 early in the second quarter, River got its transition game going and went up 15-11. But Shadyside answered with 12-0 spurt of its own, keyed by two 3 balls by Wach and two more buckets by Jaycee Mayeres that made the score 23-15.

That dug a hole for the Pilots that they almost climbed out of.

“In the second half, I just thought they outplayed us and made shots,” Isaly said. “We had opportunities where we had people in situations where we thought we could score, we just didn’t make enough of them to win.”

Tory Hendershot added 13 points for the LTs.

“We showed a lot of grit,” Gentile said. “And that’s something we’ll need at the end of the season.”