Sealy senior Evelyn Harrington led a Lady Tiger comeback with 11 fourth-quarter points to help her team take down rival Bellville 43-39 in its final home game last Friday.

It was merely the cherry on top after Sealy punched its ticket back to the postseason for the first time since the 2017-2018 season with a 36-23 win over El Campo last Tuesday. For the four-year starter, it will be Harrington’s first playoff trip.

“It’s amazing we’ve never made playoffs before, I’ve heard about how awesome it is and how the intensity is completely different and I’ve never gotten to experience that,” Harrington said after Friday’s win. “This year, I think we have a really good chance to make a good run in the playoffs.”

She will be joined by classmates Julia Jurecka, Alexa Hernandez, DJ Johnson and Ariel Gonzales in making their playoff debuts although the final seeding still had yet to be determined as of press time.

“These seniors have been through four years with me,” Lady Tiger Head Coach Anthony Branch said Friday. “With Evelyn and DJ, I think of Ariel and Alexa and Julia for what they have done. It’s big, I’m really excited for them and glad they could get that W on their home floor their last time on senior night as well.”

Sealy’s victory was not certain until the final seconds, however, and was a result of another rivalry tilt that goes down to the wire after the first meeting needed two overtime periods. Bellville entered the fourth with a four-point lead but just over halfway through the frame, it was tied.

“They kept switching back and forth and we were capitalizing on miscommunication from that switching defense,” Harrington said. “We were able to take advantage of that and then read what teammate is open.”

A three-pointer from Harrington and a wide-open Jasmyne Joiner bucket led to a narrow lead that forced the Brahmanettes to foul as a last-second effort to stop the clock. Although those efforts were for naught, it may have set the table for a third rivalry meeting if it was needed to determine seeding.

The Lady Tigers entered Tuesday’s regular-season finale against second-place Navasota with a 5-4 district record. A Sealy win would secure the No. 3 seed but a loss would set up a tiebreaker with Bellville for that third seed. See the full district standings in the sidebar of the sports section.