12:20 PM TOPLINE: West Seattle High School wins, 54-45 over Prairie. The girls will play Arlington for state 4th place tomorrow morning, again here at the Tacoma Dome, 8 am. Here’s our Instagram clip of this game’s final seconds:

Top scorers: Emily Fiso 14, Charli Elliott 13, Lydia Giomi 12.

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand. Above, Elliott & Giomi; below, Fiso)

Below, here’s how it unfolded:

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10:58 AM: We’re at the Tacoma Dome again this morning, and the West Seattle High School Wildcats have just started their second game in the state 3A girls-basketball championship tournament. After Thursday’s loss, they’re in the round contending for 4th place – this game against Prairie (from southwestern Washington) is a must-win. We’ll be updating as it goes.

11:04 AM UPDATE: Three minutes into the first quarter, it’s Prairie 7, WSHS 6. First Wildcat basket was a three-pointer by Emily Fiso.

11:12 AM UPDATE: End of the first quarter, Prairie 18, WSHS 13. It’s early, but WSHS looks a lot sharper today, though Prairie has a tough smothering defense as did Lynnwood yesterday. The Wildcats are doing better on the boards.

11:18 AM UPDATE: Thanks in large part to hot three-point shooting, Prairie maintains the lead, 21-15 with 4:42 left in the half.

11:27 AM UPDATE: Halftime. Prairie 23, WSHS 22 after an at-the-buzzer basket by the Falcons. (Added: Quick clip of the cheerleaders/band at halftime, via Instagram – go here.)

11:40 AM UPDATE: With 5:46 to go in the third quarter, suddenly WSHS is up 29-23 including two baskets by Elliott in the first few minutes (see tweeted photo above from the start of the second half).

11:49 AM UPDATE: WSHS still in the lead, 33-29, with three minutes left in the third quarter.

11:54 AM UPDATE: After three quarters, West Seattle is in the lead, 39-35.

12:02 PM UPDATE: WSHS still leading 43-41 with 4:21 to go in the game.

12:10 PM UPDATE: Under 2 minutes to go, and WSHS is ahead 49-43.

12:17 PM UPDATE: Final score – Wildcats win! 54-45

8:10 PM: Over the next hour or so, we’re adding photos, interspersed above, plus some additional game notes/photos below.

Lexi Ioane, above, pulled in 10 rebounds, second only to Giomi’s 14. The Wildcats dominated in rebounding, 61 total, with the Falcons mustering only 35. And their defense was back in the groove.

The main reason Prairie stayed in range until the fourth quarter was three-point shooting, 33 points in all from threes, more than double WSHS’s 15 points from outside (Fiso accounted for four of those five successful distance shots). WSHS, meantime, converted well from the free-throw line – 17 points to just 2 from the line for Prairie. A few more scenes from the game:

(Above, Lani Taylor; below, Annalisa Ursino)

Tomorrow, the team’s spectacular season ends, win or lose. We’ll be in Tacoma again to cover that final game.