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HARRISON — Amber Gray had that look in her eyes.

With Lakota West High's girls basketball team in a battle with Chaminade-Julienne for a Division I district title, the 6-foot-1 senior refused to let her team lose.

Gray scored a team-high 14 points — six during a decisive 11-2 run — and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to lead the third-ranked Firebirds to a 44-35 triumph over the sixth-ranked Eagles Saturday afternoon, Feb. 23, at Harrison High School.

"I'm going to do whatever it takes for my team to win," Gray said. "Senior year, I have to give it my all. I can't leave anything on the floor at this point. I don't have another year where I can come back and say, 'We'll win it this year.' This is it for me."

The victory gave West its third straight district crown, and catapults it into the regional semifinals against Pickerington Central (21-4) at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Otterbein College in Westerville.

"The way I see it, this is the sweetest one that we've had," West coach Andy Fishman said. "The girls had to overcome a lot of adversity."

Most notably foul trouble for Gray and Alexis Rogers, who were on the bench for much of the second and third quarters. Because of that, the Firebirds scored only two points in the third frame — a stickback by Stacie Lee.

But despite their struggles offensively, the Firebirds found themselves down just one (29-28) heading into the final quarter.

"I thought we were very unlucky in this game," Fishman said, "from the pace of the game to just the way the calls were going. But the kids stepped up and made the big plays when they needed to. That's what champions do, and that's why they're district champions."

Gray drilled a pull-up jumper in transition to retake the lead, and following Samarie Walker's layup, the Firebirds responded with nine straight points — a Gray turnaround, a Katie Rhoads 3-pointer, a Rogers layup and two Gray free throws.

Rhoads, who did not play in the first half, calmly sank her only shot of the game, giving West a 35-31 edge with 4:08 remaining.

"I just wanted to come in and give my team a boost," Rhoads said. "It was a tight game. I just did what I could."

C-J (19-5) was unable to get any closer than six over the final 2:38.

"It was a good game," Eagles' coach Marc Greenberg said. "We got what we wanted throughout the game. But at the unfortunate time, we just couldn't connect."

While the 44 points scored by West (23-1) was its lowest output of the season, it was its stingy defense (holding C-J to 13-of-50 shooting for 26 percent) and a 17-3 advantage off the bench that provided the difference.

"We felt that we had greater depth and we were going to use that depth to our advantage," Fishman said. "It's not always the big-name kids, but it's the girls who come into the game for one minute, for one moment that have to make big plays. There's so many little things that it takes to be great at this game and win a state championship."