Top-ranked Harlan survived another close call and ended one of the state's best feel-good stories of the season.

Four late free throws secured a 45-42 victory over No. 6 Carlisle that keeps the Cyclones unbeaten and sends them to Saturday night's Class 4A championship game.

But it certainly wasn't easy against a gritty Carlisle team that reached the semifinals after remarkable turnaround from last season's 1-22 record.

Harlan raced to a 10-point lead in the first quarter behind Taylor Wagner's three 3-pointers, then had too fight off Carlisle the rest of the way. The tough game followed a 52-50 first-round win over North Scott, a game the Cyclones won on Jordyn Moser's jumper with 3 seconds left.

After scoring the game's first basket, Carlisle led only once, at 27-25 late in the first half. Harlan responded with a 7-0 run spanning halftime to go up 33-27, but the Wildcats wouldn't go away.

Carlisle twice cut the lead to a point and had a chance tie when Kaleigh Haus went to the line for three shots after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 4.6 seconds left and Harlan leading 43-40.

She made the first and third to draw the Wildcats to within a point, but they had to foul and Wagner sank two free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining. The Cyclones then broke up Carlisle's long inbounds pass to secure their berth in the title game.

Wagner finished 4-for-4 from 3-point range and led Harlan with 14 points. Taylor Fredrick added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Jess Schaben had eight points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

Beyond Schaben's numbers, the 6-foor-2 junior forced Carlisle into numerous tough shots near the basket in helping her team run its record to 25-0.

Mary-Grace Wachal led Carlisle with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Haus added nine points, Payton Keeney scored seven and Shelbie Curry six for the Wildcats, who finish 20-7.