JOHNSTOWN — No matter how many three-pointers Voorheesville missed on Wednesday night — and it was many — the players were unfazed as they kept pulling the trigger from behind the arc.

And with 29 seconds remaining in the Class B first-round playoff at Johnstown, Emily Blow gave Voorheesville the three-pointer it had been waiting for all night. Then, with eight seconds left, Blow floated a shot down the lane for the game-winner.

“We couldn’t let that get to us,” Blow said of all the missed three-pointers after Voorheesville upset Johnstown, 58 to 56.

Blow says that her coach, Bob Baron, has a signature quote for when shots aren’t falling for the Blackbirds: “You’ve never missed a shot all night.”

“He keeps telling us that so we don’t get upset about missing threes,” added Blow. “Just forget about it, and act like we’ve been making all of them to keep our spirits up.”

Baron told The Enterprise that good shooters always believe that they can make every shot. “If you’re worried about the last three missed shots, you’re not going to make the next one,” he said. “You have to believe that you can make the shot — play with confidence, shoot with confidence — just believe. I want them to look forward, so, I tell them that they haven’t missed all night, and to keep shooting.”

Purple and gold are the school colors of both Voorheesville and Johnstown. This was interesting; the Blackbirds and the Bills seemed to mimic each other throughout the game by trading steal for steal, foul shot for foul shot, and turnover for turnover.

“We could play 10 times and it would be a war each night,” Baron said. “One of these teams would never blow out the other.”

Neither team could hold much of a lead; the game maintained a thrilling pace. Voorheesville was ahead by 10 points, 44 to 34, in the third quarter, but that was relinquished quickly as Johnstown started to attack the offensive boards hard, which led to high-percentage baskets.

“Sometimes, we slowed it down because the game was getting too fast, and we needed to settle down, but we got what we wanted most of the time,” said Blow, who scored 12 points on Wednesday.

Baron thought that Johnstown’s effort was outstanding. “Even things that we tried to keep them from doing, we couldn’t keep them from doing,” he said. “We learned some lessons tonight.”

Liking the way Voorheesville persevered, Baron said that it took true resiliency and toughness to come back and beat Johnstown on its home floor after already giving up the lead in the fourth quarter. The Bills were ahead by two points, 55 to 53, with less than a minute left after Lexus Williams split two defenders for a lay-up while getting fouled.

^{_{Ice water in her veins as the clocked ticked away, Voorheesville’s Emily Blow got the ball with eight seconds to play and hit the game-winning shot, for her team-high 12 points, as the Blackbirds stunned the Lady Bills, 58 to 56, in the Class B sectionals at Johnstown on Wednesday. The Enterprise — Michael Koff}}

But then, Blow worked her heroics. She felt like she needed to do something, anything, “because in sectionals,” she said, “go hard or go home, literally. We needed this one, so I knocked down a couple shots.”

Blow said she was nervous, and worried. “Just like every athlete is in those tight situations, but you try to use that as motivation,” she said. “It’s like, oh, they’re up by one, what do we do? Just let the nerves fuel you.”

It could have been any Voorheesville player, Baron said, but it was Blow’s turn, and she buried it.

“I told her on the bench, ‘Keep your head up because everyone needs you at the end,’” said Baron. “If you love the game, you can’t worry about the last play, you worry about the next play. That’s all you get.”

The Blackbirds, the 10^th seed in Class B, take on Watervliet, the two-seed, on Saturday night in the quarterfinals at Watervliet. If Voorheesville plans on shooting more three-pointers, more will need to go in.

“We didn’t shoot well,” Baron said on Wednesday. “For us to win on a bad shooting night, it’s a big win. If we have a good shooting night, watch out.”

^{_{Soaring down the court after stealing the ball is Voorheesville’s Emily Burke, right, as Johnstown’s Annie Stock (#34) and Lexus Williams (#15) race down the floor to catch Burke before she passed the ball to a teammate during the first half of the opening round of the Class B sectionals at Johnstown on Wednesday night. The Enterprise — Michael Koff}}