Down by 10 points, with four minutes left in regulation, Seymour’s girls basketball team needed to dig deep against their Jackson County rivals.

When the spotlight was on them, the Owls came through.

The Owls snapped a three-game losing streak on Thursday by beating Brownstown Central 55-52 in overtime at the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

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In the extra period the Owls (4-4) outscored the Braves 10-7, hitting 8 of 14 free throws.

The Owls got off to a quick start, leading 7-2 behind five points from Ashton Chase. After exchanging baskets on the next two possessions, the Braves finished the first quarter on a 7-0 run. At the buzzer, Claire Poulton drilled a contested 3-pointer to put the Braves (5-4) up 14-9.

In the second quarter, the Owls scored six points on the Braves’ 1-3-1 zone defense.

Brownstown outscored Seymour 7-2 by the 4:45-mark, behind five points by Katherine Benter, to lead 21-11.

The Owls answered with back-to-back baskets, by Aidan Hiester and Grace Schrader, but a 3-pointer by Tayler Garland extended the Braves’ lead to 24-15 going into the half.

Out of intermission, Hiester hit a 3-pointer and Grace Meyer added a pair of scores to cut the Owls’ margin to 29-22 with 4:20 on the clock.

Out of a time out, Makenna Fee and Meyer each had field goals to give the Owls their first lead since the first quarter, at 28-27, at the 1:30-mark.

In the final 1:14 of the third, the Braves went on a 6-0 run to hold a 33-28 lead going into the final eight minutes of play.

The Braves led 41-31, with 4:40 left in regulation, before the Owls stormed back.

Chase hit a pair of 3-pointers to put the Owls within range at 44-41 with 65 seconds remaining.

Down 45-43, Meyer was fouled with 16.7 ticks left. Meyer hit both free throws, and the Owls got the stop to force overtime.

“They were looking to feed the ball inside and then Chase got hot from the outside,” Braves coach Karla Rieckcers said. “It’s tough when they have three bigs and shooters on the outside to stop that. We switched to man and 2-3 to combat that a little bit.”

In the fourth quarter, Brownstown made 5 of 11 on free throws while the Owls made 7 of 8.

“I thought the key was us being able to make some shots and making a run,” Owls coach Jason Longmeier said. “We just hung in there and kept fighting. We battled on the defensive end. It was a physical game. I felt like the officials really let us played today, and at the end it played to our advantage a little bit.”

Two free throws from Chase and a basket by Fee put the Owls up 49-48 with 1:20 left in the first overtime.

With 33 seconds left in overtime, Benter split free throws and the Owls held on to the lead at 50-49.

In the final 24 seconds, the Owls made four of five to hold on for the victory.

“We played pretty well with pressure towards the end of the game,” Longmeier said. “I think we showed some toughness down the stretch. I told the kids in the locker room that until you’re in that situation, it’s really tough to step up.

Chase led the Owls with 17 points, Fee added 12 and Hiester and Meyer each scored 10.

Benter topped the Braves with 17 points, Garland scored 12 and Schroer chipped in 10 to go along with 10 rebounds.

Brownstown has lost two games in overtime and one on a buzzer-beater so far this season.

“We have been in three close games that have gone either way,” Rieckers said. “We have talked about how we make more mistakes when we’re tired. We turn the ball over and miss free throws. It comes down to making free throws, and we didn’t.

I’m proud of our effort, we just need to keep working.”

The Braves go to Eastern on Saturday while the Owls will host Jennings County on Tuesday.