It wasn’t easy, but the No. 4-ranked Brandywine girls basketball team captured its fourth consecutive Class C District championship Friday night with a come-from-behind 68-60 win over visiting New Buffalo.

The Bobcats, who are 22-1 on the season and have won 32 straight home games, had to rally from a eight-point deficit in the final quarter to pull out the victory.

Down 45-37 with just under seven minutes to play, Madison Pellow, who left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury but returned, kick-started the comeback with a basket with 6:55 showing on the clock.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Mackenzie Shelton and Rachael Ort, the second off a turnover, knotted the game at 47-47 with 6:28 to play.

Over the next two and a half minutes the game would go back and forth with a pair of ties, the last one at 54-54 on a pair of free throw’s by the Bison’s Molly Griffin with 4:04 to play.

Shelton made a backdoor cut to give Brandywine the lead for good at 56-54 and 3:48 showing on the clock.

The Bobcats were able to hold on from there, making 11-of-19 free throws in the final quarter to earn the hard-fought victory.

“We kind of had the deer in the headlights look because we haven’t been down except for the St. Joe game,” Brandywine coach Josh Hood said. “We told our girls we are a team built on runs. It takes one run. We have been saying it all year. We can make runs. To make those runs and hit those shots that’s the character of our kids.”

New Buffalo (17-3) was hindered by the loss of senior standout Lena Madison to fouls in the fourth quarter. Madison left the game with 26 points and 18 rebounds.

Both teams shot 23-of-58 from the field (40 percent), but the Bobcats were 18-of-33 from the foul line compared to 8-of-15 for the Bison.

New Buffalo turned the ball over 22 times compared to just 12 for the Bobcats, but held a commanding 47-34 advantage in rebounds.

Carlie Newman led the Bobcats and all scorers with 27 points. She also had nine rebounds and six assists. Shelton and Pellow added 14 and 13 respectively.

Besides Lena Madison, the Bison got 17 points from sister Jade Madison.

The Bobcats will now travel to Delton-Kellogg Tuesday night to play the second game of a doubleheader against the host team, which defeated Lawton 54-46 to win the district title at Galesburg-Augusta.

NEW BUFFALO 60

Zoe Lauricella 0 0-0 0; Amy Golebiewski 2 0-0 6; Kelsey Tanksley 0 0-0 0; Kristine Kucera 0 0-0 0; Molly Griffin 3 2-4 9; Abbey Dixon 0 0-0 0; Breanna Workman 2 0-2 4; Lena Madison 9 3-5 26; Jade Madison 7 3-4 17; Jasmine Palenske 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 8-15 60

BRANDYWINE 68

Carlie Newman 7 13-18 27; Rachael Ort 2 1-2 6; Mackenzie Shelton 6 1-2 14; Tia Hullinger 1 0-1 3; Victoria Knight 1 0-1 2; Brooke Smith 1 0-4 3; Mikayla Kemp 0 0-0 0; Madison Pellow 5 3-5 13; Hanna Horst 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 23 18-33 68

New Buffalo 10 31 45 60

Brandywine 12 30 39 68

3-point baskets: New Buffalo 6 (Golebiewski 2, Griffin, L. Madison 3), Brandywine 4 (Ort, Shelton, Hullinger, Smith). Total fouls (fouled out): New Buffalo 26 (Workman, L. Madison), Brandywine 16 (none). Varsity records: New Buffalo 17-3, Brandywine 22-1