Becca Hittner's heads-up defense and Kennedy Childers' timely scoring helped keep Dowling Catholic's repeat championship hopes alive.

With the third-ranked Maroons clinging to a 54-52 lead over Johnston in the final minute of the first-round Class 5A game, Hittner stole an inbouds pass and sank two free throws to make it a two-possession game with 18.3 seconds left.

A charging call gave the ball back to the Maroons, Hittner sank two more free throws and Dowling escaped with a 58-52 victory to gain a berth in Friday's semifinals.

Before Hittner finished it off, Childers kept Dowling in it with some sharp shooting. She scored the Maroons' first 10 points of the fourth quarter before Hittner got inside for reverse layup that put Dowling ahead to stay at 53-52 with 1:09 remaining.

Childers finished with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Hittner also scored 19 and Audrey Faber had 11 for the Maroons (21-3), who beat ninth-ranked Johnston twice by double digits during the regular season.

But Johnston stayed right with the Maroons in this one after recovering from an early 19-10 deficit. A 20-6 run that included four 3-pointers sent Johnston into a 30-25 lead late in the first half and the Dragons (16-8) led 30-26 at the break.

Dowling responded by scoring the first seven points of the second half and it was a battle from then on. In the end, the Maroons capitalized on their experience to make the plays they needed to advance.

Rachel Hinders led Johnston with 24 points, makng 9 of 12 shots, and pulled down nine rebounds. Elle Brown added 11 points and four assists and Taryn Knuth scored nine.

Hinders is a junior and Brown and Knuth are sophomores, so the future is bright for the Dragons, who had only one senior starter.