In the early portion of the girls basketball season, it’s not uncommon to see lopsided affairs. Be it tournament schedules, early conditioning injuries or what have you, 30-point margins are not uncommon.

Fittingly, the best basketball is usually being played late in the year. Mid December isn’t always when the most exciting stuff happens.

Tell that to anyone who witnessed Monday night’s game at Plainfield North as they hosted Lincoln-Way West. There was a one-sided first quarter, a one-sided second quarter in the opposite direction, two buzzer-beaters, overtime and a host of lead changes. What else could anyone ask for?

The Warriors would certainly have asked for a win, as they were on the wrong side of the 60-59 OT contest, but fans were treated to as exciting of a contest as they could have hoped for.

The first quarter was dominated by Lincoln-Way West, who scored the first nine points of the contest as Plainfield North was held off the board the first five minutes of play. The Tigers closed the period on a rush, though, cutting the deficit to 13-8 thanks to a triple from Milana Iseman with 10 seconds remaining.

To say the second quarter was all Plainfield North would be underselling it. The Tigers held the Warriors without a single point in the second for the first six minutes and three seconds. They scored the first nine points of the second just as the Warriors did in the first.

Including the close of the first, Plainfield North outscored Lincoln-Way West 22-4 through that stretch. That included a tying layup by Isabella Koldoff a minute in and a jumper by Koldoff 40 seconds later to put the Tigers in front 15-13.

The Warriors didn’t score any points in the second until a free throw by Lucy Sheriff with 1:57 left in the half. The Warriors looked like they’d be held without a make from the field in the quarter until a buzzer-beating floater by Mackenzie Roesner gave them one.

Lincoln-Way West trailed 22-19 thanks to a few more free throws before that.

Both teams heated up in the third with Kaitlyn Weaver tying things up on a 3-pointer midway through the quarter 32-32. A free throw by Ava Tisch gave the Warriors a brief lead before a Iseman layup put the Tigers right back on top.

The two teams traded leads three times in the final minute of action, but a trey by Koldoff with 2.1 seconds remaining tied it all up at 37-37.

There were another four lead changes the first two minutes of the final period, but the Warriors seemed to have reclaimed victory midway through as Weaver stretched the lead to 46-41. That didn’t last as Taylor Henderson’s triple put Plainfield North back up 51-49 with 2:35 remaining.

Sheriff knotted it up at 51-51 with 52 seconds to go, but Khamiaya Larry knocked down a pair of free throws 14 ticks later. Lucile Carlos made another foul shot with 22 seconds left on the clock to make it 54-51, but Roesner nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force the extra period.

Koldoff nailed a three midway through OT to give the Tigers a 58-56 advantage but a diving layup by Molly Finn knotted it up once more. Henderson knocked down a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left to give the Tigers a 60-58 edge. Sheriff made one free throw with 15.6 remaining to cut it to one, but Tisch’s last second layup was no good as the Tigers squeezed out a victory.

“I think our energy and ability to stay together as a team made the difference,” Henderson said. “It got hard down the stretch but we made the difference.”

Koldoff led the way with 18 points while Henderson had 17. Finn (14), Tisch (13) and Roesner (11) led the Warriors.

“I think our urgency needs to be better,” Roesner said. “We can’t have these up and downs like the first and second quarter. Coming out in the third we had much better urgency. If we do that from the start to the end that will be better.”