Bedford's Kayla Lindenmeyer made two free throws at just the right time.

The Bulldogs missed six straight foul shots in the fourth quarter before Lindenmeyer dropped in a pair with 31.3 seconds left, giving her third-ranked team the cushion it needed to beat sixth-ranked Ar-We-Va 55-54 in first-round Class 1A play.

Bedford won for the first time in three tries at state and will take a 25-1 record into a semifinal game at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Caila Raymond led Bedford with 20 points and 13 rebounds. She made her first seven shots and finished 9-for-12 from the field. Lindenmeyer finished with 19 points and Savanna Thornton scored 11, including a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the game.

Dani Kock led Ar-We-Va with 18 points and 15 rebounds, while sophomore Paige Danner scored 14 and had four steals. Ar-We-Va, the state runner-up last year, finished 21-4.

Lindenmeyer's two free throws gave Bedford a 55-52 lead, meaning Ar-We-Va needed a 3-pointer to tie it. The Rockets missed from long range and Kock scored on a putback for the final points.

It was a back-and-forth game of runs. Bedford outscored Ar-We-Va 14-3 to open a 16-10 lead early in the second quarter, only to see the Rockets came back with 10 straight points to go up 20-16.

Bedford answered with eight straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers by Thornton, to go up 24-20 and the Bulldogs never trailed again.

They opened a 49-39 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Ar-We-Va stormed back to tie it at 50 on Kock's follow shot with 3:44 to play. Thornton's 3-point from the right side then put the Bulldogs ahead to stay.