AUGUSTA - Eight seconds and a fraction showed on the clock when Monmouth Academy senior girls' basketball teammates Jill Armstrong and Jenn Lola embraced at the south foul line on the Augusta Civic Center court Saturday night.

Both just watched their potential game-tying 3-point attempts rattle around the rim and fall perilously toward the floor. Both suspected they knew what the slight misfires probably meant.

How wrong they wished they'd been … and almost were.

Somehow, Monmouth's Moe Beaulieu plucked another offensive rebound out of the Lola miss and worked her way into a one-and-one. Her shot also took an unkind bounce.

Somehow, Alyssa Morin latched onto the leftovers, but rushed the re-try off the wrong side of the glass.

And with that, somehow, No. 1 Madison survived for a 37-34 victory over No. 2 Monmouth in what was a stirring if not always pretty Western Class C final.

"At the end of the game, what can you say? I don't know how those kids did it," said Monmouth coach Rick Amero. "You know, five or six kids are playing. They're exhausted. (Out of) desperation, we had to do something different, get up and try to press Madison. Luckily, it worked. It's just a testimony to the character of these girls."

Almost comebacks don't count for much in the tournament record books. Monmouth's near-rally might be little more than a footnote in the future, but it's worthy of a headline in the precious present.

Shut out for more than eight minutes in a deadly drought that spanned into the early minutes of the fourth quarter, Monmouth summoned a 13-3 surge to the finish.

All six players on the court accounted produced at least one basket, assist or steal in the Mustangs' finishing kick, which saw Monmouth hold Madison without a field goal for the final 5:13.

"I think it was maybe too little, too late," said Armstrong, who finished with four points, five assists and a pair of steals. "We should have maybe pressed them a little earlier. That third quarter is what makes you or breaks you, and we weren't very good in that quarter."

Katie Woodman ended Monmouth's cold front by nailing two free throws with 4:13 left. That only cut the lead to 34-23.

But then it was the Bulldogs who lost their bite. Morin, meanwhile, cashed in a feed from Armstrong. Woodman stuck a pull-up jumper. And Lola followed a shot that Margo Russell initially swatted back in her face to pull Monmouth within five.

"I don't know what happened. We just started doing it," Lola said. "I just think we came out a little flat (in the second half), and that was a bad time to do that. We can't change what happened. I'm just a little frustrated."

Frustration would come later, but not even two Russell free throws and a 36-29 deficit with 2:21 to go could initially dissuade the Mustangs.

Woodman (11 points) buried a 3-pointer. Morin's put-back reduced the disparity to two with 49 seconds showing.

"We knew it wasn't over. We kept it up and we're proud," said Armstrong, who returned from injury-plagued sophomore and junior seasons to bring a steadying presence to Monmouth's offense. "I know I don't look happy, but I am."

It wouldn't be a Madison-Monmouth game without the dramatic momentum changes.

The Mustangs led all four meetings this season in the first half, holding on to win only one. Madison made off with the Mountain Valley Conference championship when Russell scored in the final five seconds here less than two weeks ago.

"They're just tremendous kids with a lot of heart and pride," Amero said of his team. "They never quit until there were four-tenths of a second left. We had a couple of threes roll out, and if one of those goes in, you know? But, another day. Madison is a very good basketball team."