Yearwood’s winning shot came right after Smithtown West guard Madison Misser tied the score with a quick-release bomb, at the end of a mad scramble for a loose ball with bodies in both uniforms crashing to the floor in separate piles underneath the Lady Bulls’ basket.

At this juncture in the game, the crowd, which was split evenly between Northport fans and West fans, was at the point of boiling over as Head Coach Rich Castellano called a timeout. It gave both factions of patrons an opportunity to loudly voice their allegiance and it seemed as though the roof of the gym was about to pop right off.

After the timeout, the Lady Tigers worked the ball around the three-point arc. Co-captain Sophia Bica, who hit six vital free throws without a miss down the stretch, worked the ball inside to sophomore Kennedy Radziul, who kicked it out to freshman Claire Fitzpatrick in the corner. Yearwood drifted out of her wing spot towards the middle and Fitzpatrick hit her with a bounce pass in rhythm at the top of the key.

Yearwood fired from two feet behind the circle and nailed it. Timeout West. Bedlam in Lady Tiger Land.

“I was able to set myself and I was pretty open, so I felt that when it left my hand, it was going in,” said Yearwood, who hit five others from long range on her way to 23 to lead the Lady Tigers. “I missed a couple of shots right before that, so I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates because they never lost faith in me.  They kept telling me to shoot and it energized me and gave me confidence because I started to get in my own head. They helped me get out of it.”

Yearwood’s mercurial night was a microcosm of the game itself; in that there were not only crazy exchanges of scoring runs, but palpable swings of emotion too –  the latter of which only amplified by D’Onofrio’s injury.

Early on, the typical Tiger fan likely felt that he or she had seen this movie before as Northport led by 15 after one quarter. But everyone in the building witnessed D’Onofrio go down in a heap trying to hit a long, off-balanced shot at the 1st quarter buzzer. She came down awkwardly on her right knee and was in immediate and intense pain as the collective mood inside the gymnasium went from euphoria to a stunned malaise.

After a delay of about 10 minutes, West wrested the momentum of the game and outscored Northport 19-9 in the 2^nd quarter and just like that, the Tiger lead was cut to 5 at the break.

“When Natalia got hurt, I saw it in their faces that their minds were on her,” said Castellano. “It took us a while to bounce back emotionally because her teammates are not used to seeing her get injured. She always bounces right back up when she hits the deck. Unfortunately, that was not the case this time.”

In case you – the Tribune reader – have never seen D’Onofrio play volleyball, basketball, softball, it can be verifiably reported that her style of play almost always produces voluminous amounts of not only joy, but also dirt on her uniform or raspberries on her arms and legs. She hustles and scrambles and leaves everything she has between the lines and her teammates, coaches and fans love her for it.

“Tal is such an important player on our team,” said Bica. “Her intensity and drive to win inspires and motivates all of us.”

Without D’Onofrio, Castellano mixed and matched his lineup as Sarah Morawski, Payson Hedges, Brooke Kershow and Rachel Mincone soaked up significant minutes during the middle two quarters of the game. After that rough 2^nd quarter, the Lady Tigers opened up an 11 point lead late in the third. But a sudden slew of turnovers by the White, Blue and Gold led to 8-0 run for SmW in the last two minutes of the quarter. Misser hit a step-back three and gorgeous swoop and scoop layup to highlight this incursion and the Lady Bulls once again let it be known that they wouldn’t simply just go away.

“I give them a lot of credit,” said Castellano. “We had a big lead in the first half and the fought back and they took advantage of our sloppiness in that third quarter.  But the big thing was, they never took the lead on us.  They tied it, but we were never down.”

They did tie it at 57 with a minute remaining in the game. But Yearwood’s clutch three ball, Bica’s cool-as-a-cucumber free throw shooting, and a huge rebound in the dying seconds by an elbow-swinging Allison Soule preserved the win. Soule totaled 22 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 steals and Bica had 16 points. Radziul and Fitzpatrick had 8 apiece. D’Onofrio’s teammates, which is now a larger group that includes a select number of Junior Varsity girls, were happy to see her on the bench to be able to witness the wild and ultimately successful end of the game. They were even carrying her to the team huddle during timeouts, enabling her to participate in the thrilling climax of this playoff victory.

“She’s such a tough and hard-working player so it was upsetting to see what happened,” said Yearwood. “At halftime (Coach Castellano) was saying that we need to win this for Tal. She’s a huge part of this team so we are dedicating the rest of these playoffs to her. It’s time to win for Tal.”

The entire Lady Tiger roster went to D’Onofrio’s house after the game to be with their fallen mate to keep her spirits high.  Castellano dialed into this impromptu get-together and said some uplifting words to her as he was driving home. D’Onofrio will undergo further tests to determine medical next steps but is out of the lineup for basketball, and likely softball, for the foreseeable future.

“I don’t think they realize how much it meant to me that they came to my house after the game,” said D’Onofrio, who is in relatively good spirits, only days after the event. “When they said that they were dedicating the playoffs to me, it made me feel so special. I’m excited for them because they’re going to play their hearts out like they always do and I know all of my coaches and teammates will have my back throughout the course of wherever this injury will take me.”

Asked if she’ll attend the next game against hated and 3rd seeded Huntington next Friday which is to be held at Bay Shore High School, D’Onofrio did not surprise.

“I’ll be there,” she said.

So will the Lady Tigers, with a chance to make it to the Suffolk County finals.