What a way to finish a state tournament!

Freshman Virginia Johnson caught a long pass and drove for a layup with 1.4 seconds left to give Iowa City High a 48-46 victory over Cedar Rapids Washington and the Class 4A championship.

The clutch basket ended an intense back-and-forth game and completed a sweep for City High, which avenged all three of its regular-season losses in the state tournament.

The eighth-ranked Little Hawks (22-3) defeated Cedar Falls in the first round and beat Marion Linn-Mar in the semifinals. Then they faced a Washington team that had defeated them by 14 in the regular-season finale and turned the tables in this one, too.

Johnson finished an impressive game with 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Kelly Krei, who'll play at Iowa next season, led the Little Hawks with 21 points and nine rebounds.

Krei was voted captain of the all-tournament team and was the state tournament's overall MVP.

Katelin Oney and Kaitlin Armstrong led Washington (22-3) with 16 points each and Micha Mims scored 10. It was the third runner-up finish in four years for Washington, which won state titles in 1988 and 1995.

Before this year, City High had been 0-4 in state tournament games.

With Krei scoring on a variety of shots in close, City High built a 10-point lead in the third quarter and was up by seven in the fourth quarter when Washington used its full-court pressure and quickness to claw back.

An 8-0 run gave the Warriors a 44-41 lead with 3:42 left, Armstrong capping that burst by stealing an inbounds pass and feeding Oney for a layup.

City pulled ahead 46-44 when Johnson scored on a turnaround right in from of the basket with 32 seconds left. Washington tied it at 46 on Armstrong's two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining.

The Warriors then batted away two inbounds passes before Kim Rickels threw long to Johnson, who stumbled slightly as she caught the ball 40 feet from the basket on the left side, regained her stride and drove for the biggest, most memorable points of her young career.

Johnson also made the all-tournament team along with Armstrong, Oney, Linn-Mar's Jaime Printy and Waukee's Staci Gillum.