RAPID CITY - The New Underwood Tigers are going to the Class B girls' state basketball tournament for the third straight season after taking the Region 7B title with a 48-47 victory Tuesday over White River at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

"It's amazing," New Underwood junior Laura Barber said of heading back to the tournament. "I've been (to state) now as a freshman, a sophomore and a junior. It's an amazing feeling."

New Underwood stumbled out of the blocks as Caitlin Whiting helped propel White River to a 13-4 lead after the first quarter. But New Underwood didn't panic and went to its advantage under the basket to slowly chip away at the lead in the second quarter.

"The last few weeks we've really been working with this power game," New Underwood head coach Dallas Richter said. "The girls know when they get in there, they know what to do. We settled down, we took our time and we got back into it."

New Underwood used a 2-2-1 trap on defense and the power game on offense to claw its way back into the lead, 23-22, at the half. The Tigers' frontcourt trio of Kelsey Schwartz, Teri Heavlin and Barber combined to score 35 of New Underwood's points and control most everything that happened in the paint.

Schwartz paced New Underwood (20-2 overall) with 15 points. The Tigers played the game without starting guard Jaymason Whipple, who has been out of action for the past three weeks with a broken collarbone. The Tigers hope to have her back for the state tournament in Huron next Thursday.

White River (11-12) made things very interesting at the end of the game, rallying from a six-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to get a chance to tie the game.

New Underwood's Rachael Huether went to the line with 11.9 seconds to play and her team up 47-45. She hit the first of two free throws, and Schwartz grabbed the offensive rebound. But the junior forward was ruled out of bounds and the ball went to White River with under 10 seconds to play.

Whiting got a decent look at a 3-pointer but the ball bounced off the back iron. Sami Gillen grabbed the board and put the ball in the basket at the buzzer for the final margin.

Whiting, a sophomore, paced White River with 13 points.