In the waning seconds of the fourth quarter against the Milpitas Trojans, the Viking girls’ basketball appeared to be headed for a painfully narrow loss.

Not even the consistent scoring of senior Liz Slater and junior Olivia Garcia could help Paly overcome the fourth-quarter foul shots that had lifted Milpitas into the lead.

Then Mariah Phillips got the ball just outside the three-point line with less than a second left and the Vikings trailing 49-46.

The Paly freshman sunk a jump shot to tie the score just as the ending buzzer blared, giving new life to the team that had lead the scoreboard for most of the last three quarters. Paly took advantage of the additional four-minute opportunityfinal period, going on a 9-3 run in the final period to win the game , 59-51.

The Vikings had kept the score close throughout the game, getting on the board first with a score from Slater with 6:34 remaining in into the second minute of the first period. But the Trojans snatched rebounds on several Paly misses and scored on all four of their foul Lady VikesViking’ shots in the quarter to take an early lead, 10-8.

Then Paly got to work catching up, led by Slater and Garcia. Though Milpitas scored twice in the to opening minutes of the second quarter, the Vikings countered with eight points of their own in three minutes, including a layup by Slater that tied the score at 16-16. Junior Madison Hoffacker also contributed, with a score in the paint that helped Paly build a lead by halftime at 22-18 lead by halftime..

Milpitas got off to another quick start to begin the second half of the game, breaking through the Paly defense on a 7-0 run in which the Trojansy put up a three-pointer and converted on a pair of free throws. Paly countered with a foul shot of its own and got a basket from junior Kirsten Atkinson as the shot clock expired to tie the game again at 27-27. By third quarter’s end, Slater and Paly junior Taylor Lovely had countered another Milpitas score to help Paly stay narrowly in control, 32-31.

The Viking defense guarded the lead aggressively to in the final minutes of the match, blocking a shot to foil a Trojan drive and getting two more foul shots from Slater. Paly head coach Scott Peters called a timeout after another Milpitas score before the Vikings lost the ball twice to steals and fell behind, 47-40. Both teams then traded fouls, with Paly getting pairs of scores from Slater and Atkinson to pull within three points of Milpitas before Peters took another timeout. Then Slater took the ball to resume play one more time, giving it to Lauren Mah, who made the pass to put the ball and the game in Phillips’ hands. With Phillips’ buzzer-beater, Paly tied the game and eventually won in the overtime period.

The Vikings will next face Los Gatos in an away game on Tuesday play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Los Gatos.