The wins haven’t come easily for the Newburgh Free Academy girls’ basketball team this season, if they came at all.

But the Goldbacks entered the second half leading the Valley Central Vikings by 12 points, feeling like they may have an opportunity to win their second straight after Thursday’s six-point win over the Washingtonville Wizards.

It wasn’t to be.

The Vikings ran down the Goldbacks on a pair of Kelly Schmidt free throws with 2:26 left in the fourth quarter and then Shaleese Joyner hit one of two free throws to break a tie and hand the Goldbacks their 15th loss of the season, 44-43, on Saturday at Newburgh Free Academy.

“It’s always tough to lose; I don’t care if you lose by two or by 30, but we played well,” Newburgh coach Arturo Santana said. “We were in the whole game. We were leading the whole game with the exception of the last couple minutes, and you’ve got to give credit to Valley Central. They came back.”

After Schmidt gave the Vikings a 1-point lead and older sister, Riley Schmidt, widened the lead to three points, the Goldbacks showed they were poised to make their own comeback.

After Newburgh’s Valerie Churns and Valley Central’s Shaleese Joyner traded baskets, Newburgh freshman Terri’nashjae Burden knocked down a 3-pointer with 26 seconds to tie the game at 43-43.

“That was a big shot by Terri’nashjae,” Santana said. “That was not a set play. That was just all her. Crazy things happen, and I told them to hang in there. You never know what’s going to happen at the end, and obviously, it didn’t work for us today.”

Not only did that basket tie the game, but it whipped the Goldbacks’ bench and home crowd into a frenzy, which was needed about 10.5 seconds later when Joyner took the free throw line on the other end.

“It was nice,” Santana said. “I have to give the Newburgh crowds a lot of credit. They come and support. They know that we’re struggling but they still come and support us. The kids appreciate it, and I certainly do.”

The crowd was doing its best to rattle Joyner, the Vikings’ sixth player off the bench. They got louder after she missed the first one, but she knocked down the second. That and 14 more seconds of defense gave them their win.

Burden led the Goldbacks with a game-high 24 points, and Churns finished with nine. The Goldbacks had lost three straight games before defeating the Washingtonville Wizards, 55-49, on Thursday.

Joyner led the Vikings with 13 points, and Kelly Schmidt added 12.

“I hope they take that they can play with any team, especially a team that beat them by 26 last time,” Santana said. “If we take care of the ball, if we do the little things in practice we can compete, and we’ll compete with anybody.”

The Goldbacks finished their season with two games this week. They were scheduled to honor their seniors before Monday’s game against Pine Bush before visiting Monroe-Woodbury on Thursday to finish the season.

“I always want to be at my best at the end of the season, and we’ve improved enormously,” Santana said. “Unfortunately we’re not going to make the sections, but that doesn’t mean that the next two games, we’re just going to fold. We’re going to get better and we’re going to play better and we’re not stopping until the last second, and the last buzzer.”