REINBECK – Hayley Weber drove hard to the basket and hoisted up a layup with a little more than 2 seconds left in regulation while colliding with her opponent.

All eyes were fastened on the referee. What would he call: A blocking foul or a charge. Fortunately, for the Gladbrook-Reinbeck girls basketball team, he chose the former and not the latter. Weber calmly walked to the free-throw line and sank both her foul shots to give the Rebels a 40-39 victory over a North Butler team (0-14) still searching for that elusive first win.

“That was huge,” G-R coach Eric Crandall said. “We had some struggles in the fourth quarter, we would step up and hit 1-of-2, we’d step up and miss both, occasionally we’d hit both, but that was a bang-bang call at the end and it looked like she wanted the ball in her hands.”

Berendes shepherded the Rebels offensive attack with 12 points, Weber added seven and Hanna Christopher chipped in five.

Nicole Heeren spearheaded the Bearcats offensive attack with 12 points and Haley Landers added seven. Heeren scored four straight points to give North Butler a 14-5 lead after one quarter.

Affronted, Berendes drilled a jumper from the left corner and converted a 3-point play to close the gap to 16-10 with 6:49 left in the half. Later, Weber banked in a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 18-16 before Berendes sank a pair of free throws to tie the game at 18-18 with 3:58 left in the half. The game continued to go back and forth but Heeren nailed a jumper from the left elbow to help give her team a 26-22 halftime lead.

Berendes knocked down a 3-pointer to start the second half to chisel the gap to 26-25. Later, Weber scored inside to give the Rebels a 27-26 edge with 4:07 left. The game continued to oscillate back in forth before G-R eventually eked out the win.

“We had a nice comeback and that was a good team,” Crandall said. “They have had their struggles, but they played well. We didn’t go into the game knowing a whole lot about them but they didn’t know much about us either. We’re a little slow starting, but we kind of got going in the second quarter, Amber Berendes hit some big shots.”