Indian River senior girls basketball player Brandi Buchanan netted a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining on the clock to stun visiting Padua and give the Lady Indians a 44-43 state tournament victory.
In a back-and-forth opening round bout between the 16-seed Lady Indians and No. 17 Padua, all hope seemed lost for the host squad when the Pandas' Tianna Wagner sunk a 10-foot, baseline jumper with seven seconds remaining in regulation and gave her club a one-point advantage, but Buchanan had other ideas.
The Indians only senior promptly received a pass around the top of the key, dribbled a few steps to set up a shot and was fouled with 8/10's of a second on the clock.
Calmly, although she later admitted it was quite nerve-racking, Buchanan sunk both free throws for the tournament win, IR's first in recent memory.
Things do not get any easier in round two for the Indians, as they travel to top seed St. Mark's Thursday for a 7 p.m. contest.
More on IR's dramatic win will be in our March 10 print edition.
