LINCOLN - Firth Norris' Lady Titans made a little extra work pay off Tuesday night as they downed Waverly in overtime to advance to the B-1 District basketball tournament semifinals.

The Lady Titans defeated the ViQueens, 50-44, in overtime.

With its win, Norris advances to meet top-seeded Crete Thursday in one of two B-1 District semifinal contests at 6:15 p.m. at Lincoln Southwest.

In the other semifinal, Beatrice, a 62-29 first-round winner over Nebraska City, will take on second-seeded Lincoln Pius at 8 p.m.

The B-1 District championship final is slated for 7 p.m. Friday at Southwest.

While Norris was able to hold a slight advantage over Waverly several times during the game, Lady Titan coach Mark Hagerman said “no lead was a comfortable lead.”

“We'd take a lead, then all of a sudden Waverly would come back,” Hagerman said.

Even though the Lady Titans had had trouble keeping control over of the ViQueens during regulation play, Hagerman said he “felt pretty good” going into overtime.

Norris got the job done in overtime against Waverly, outscoring the ViQueens 10-4 in the extra period, which produced a six-point win.

Lady Titan Sarah Hoefler started things off in overtime, hitting two-point goal and adding the bonus free throw after being fouled on the shot.

Two free throws by Abbie Gabel put Norris up 45-40 and Kylann Scheidt hit a field goal for a 47-40 Lady Titan with 1:34 left in the extra period.

Waverly hit a pair of free throws, but Norris' Taylor Krejci responded with two free throws, leaving the Lady Titans up 49-42 with 45 seconds remaining.

A two-point goal pulled the ViQueens within five points with 30 seconds left, but Krejci ended up finishing out the game's scoring from the charity stripe, hitting a single free throw with 1.2 seconds on the clock.

Hagerman said the “big basket of the night” was by Hoefler at the start of the overtime period.

“She (Hoefler) made that and-one and put us up by three,” Hagerman said.

Hoefler's bucket and free throw “set the tone” for the rest of the game, Hagerman added.

With the way Waverly kept coming back in regulation, however, Hagerman said he knew the Lady Titans needed to be careful even when they took a seven-point lead in the overtime.

Norris' Scheidt opened the game's scoring with a bucket, but the Lady Titans initial lead was short-lived.

Waverly answered with a game-tying bucket and then added two free throws and another field goals for a 6-2 advantage.

A three-pointer by Norris' Krejci and a two by Scheidt put the Lady Titans back up, 7-6, but again the lead didn't last.

The ViQueens hit three free throws and then a bucket, taking an 11-7 lead with 34 seconds left in the period.

A buzzer-beating bucket by Sharee Barry pulled the Lady Titans within two points, 11-9, at the end of the first quarter.

Waverly extended its advantage early in the second period, outscoring Norris 6-2 and taking a 17-11 lead with 4:28 remaining. Gabel had the only bucket during the stretch for the Lady Titans.

During the final 3:29 of the quarter, Norris outscored the ViQueens 3-1 from the free-throw line as Hoefler hit two charity tosses and Krejci added a single free throw.

At halftime, Norris trailed Waverly, 18-14.

Hagerman said the Lady Titans knew they needed to improve several areas of their game following intermission.

One thing Hagerman said he wanted to see was the team shoot better from the free-throw line.

Norris was just 3-for-10 from the charity stripe in the first half. The Lady Titans finished the game 11-for-25.

“We figured if we took care of our free throws, we'd be a lot better,” Hagerman said.

The Lady Titans went to work offensively at the start of the third quarter.

Coming off the halftime break, Norris went on a 9-0 run, taking a 23-18 lead with 4:34 left in the period.

Hoefler, Krejci and Scheidt started the run with a trio of field goals.

Gabel finished it off, hitting a free throw and then a two-pointer.

Waverly stopped the Norris run with a bucket, but Krejci answered with a two for the Lady Titans, making it a 25-20 game in Norris' favor.

Waverly then went on a run of its own, however, regaining the lead.

The ViQueens hit three free throws, a field goal and then a two-pointer and bonus free throw to go up 28-25 with 51 seconds remaining in the quarter.

Hoefler hit a two and Scheidt beat the buzzer with a field goal to give the lead back to Norris, 29-28, as the period ended.

A bucket by Gabel put the Lady Titans up 31-28 to start the fourth quarter, but Waverly responded with two free throws and a bucket, taking a 32-31 lead.

Gabel tied the score at 32-all with a single free throw, but the ViQueens responded with six straight points, going up 38-32 with 3:21 left in regulation.

Back-to-back bucket by Gabel cut the Waverly lead to two points, but a single charity toss put the ViQueens back up by three with 1:01 remaining on the clock.

Hoefler then hit back-to-back buckets, putting Norris in the lead by one point, 40-39.

With 29 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Waverly hit one of two free throws, tying the score at 40-all.

Neither team scored again during regulation sending the game into overtime.

“We thought we were in pretty good shape at the end (of regulation),” Hagerman said, “but then all of a sudden it was a tie game.”

Norris had four players finish in double-scoring figures.

Gabel led the way with 14, while Hoefler had 13, Krejci had 11 and Scheidt had 10.

Waverly was led in scoring by Anne Martin with 13 points.

Waverly 11 7 10 12 4-44

Norris 9 5 15 11 10-50

Waverly ( 44 )

Laura Smith seven, Kelsey Pike three, Danielle Neufalfen six, Morgan Hergert seven, Jordan Ludwig two, Anne Martin 13, Alicia Fulton six.

Norris ( 50 )

Sharee Barry two, Taylor Krejci 11, Abbie Gabel 14, Sarah Hoefler 13, Kylann Scheidt 10.

Three-point goals: Waverly none. Norris one (Krejci one).