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After three quarters of adrenaline-driven, rough-and-tumble, back-and-forth basketball, the Hamilton High West girls’ basketball team seemed to have finally quelled a scrappy Steinert High squad by grabbing a five-point lead with two minutes remaining.

The truth was the Hornets hadn’t seen anything yet.

Steinert went on an 11-3 run in the final 90 seconds — bolstered by a switch to pressure defense and a knack for converting free throws — to shock the home team and claim a 54-50 victory against the Hornets Jan. 15 at Hamilton High School West.

“We fought really hard,” Steinert High senior Dana Jeter said. “The fourth quarter won the game for us. When they had the lead, we had to huddle together and say, ‘We have to do this.’”

Jeter led all scorers with 27 points, including back-to-back baskets that started the Spartans’ comeback. Sophomore Lindsay Usarzenicz finished it, converting both shots of a one-and-one on subsequent possessions with less than 30 seconds remaining to clinch the Steinert win.

“It’s a big game,” Steinert girls’ basketball head coach Bryan Rogers said. “This is one of the biggest games so far this year. It was great the way they responded.”

Steinert led at the end of each quarter, a statistic that’s more misleading than revealing. More telling, perhaps, is to simply note this was a furiously fought game typical of the Hamilton West-Steinert rivalry.

It would not be an exaggeration to say there were as many bodies on the floor, loose balls and mid-stream possession changes as points scored. The Spartans just wound up having a few more points at the end.

“In a rivalry game, you’re going to have that,” Rogers said. “It’s exciting. The team did a very good job coming back in the fourth quarter.”

Steinert’s fourth quarter came on the heels of an impressive third quarter from Hamilton West. The Spartans went into the second half leading by six points, primed to break open the game. Yet Hamilton West held Steinert to just two points in the third quarter’s first three minutes to claw back into contention.

Alexis Johnson fashioned herself as the Hornets’ savior, scoring 12 of her 18 points in the third quarter. Amanda Rossi — Johnson’s mate inside — weathered a personal third-quarter scoring drought by providing a presence on the boards that gave Steinert fits. Rossi scored 13 points, second highest for Hamilton West on the night.

“Alexis kept us in the game, and Amanda with her rebounds,” Hamilton West girls’ basketball head coach Karla Peroni said. “The inside game really clicked tonight. They kept us in the game.”

Peroni tried to capitalize on the Hornets’ apparent advantage around the basket during the decisive fourth quarter. That strategy went by the wayside, though, as Steinert applied full-court pressure in the final minutes.

The Spartans’ defensive switch turned up the intensity and pace of a game that already could have been considered a frenzy. Down five with 1:36 left, Steinert capitalized on the up-tempo pace. Jeter scored twice in 16 seconds to pull the Spartans within one. Then, after an unsuccessful offensive trip for West, Steinert’s Caitlin Larkin gave the Spartans the lead, 49-48, with one minute remaining.

“We had to put the press on,” Rogers said. “I guess we did it at the right time.”

But the Spartans weren’t finished. Steinert stole the ball and forced an errant pass for a turnover on the two West possessions following the lead change. The deficit and dwindling game clock — now only seconds away from expiring — forced the Hornets to foul in an attempt to come back.

Usarzenicz hit four consecutive free throw attempts to build Steinert’s lead to 53-48, and Jeter closed the scoring by hitting the front end of a one-and-one with 4.9 seconds remaining.

At that point, the Spartans had built a four-point lead, insurmountable considering the time left. Steinert left the gym feeling good about its win, but the Hornets knew the result may have been different if the game lasted longer.

In a game of surges, the Spartans just managed to have the last.

“I knew this would be a battle to the end,” Peroni said. “We don’t have anything to hang our heads about. We did all we could. It’s not a bad game at all.”