Jenna O’Connor’s favorite games are the ones that are close and competitive.

Even though they make her nervous.

They didn’t come much closer than Thursday’s Coaches vs. Cancer Consolation girls’ basketball game when O’Connor found herself at the free-throw line in a tie game against the Cornwall Dragons with 11.6 seconds remaining in the game.

“I was just talking myself through in my head, just to take a deep breath and be nice and calm,” O’Connor said. “My teammates and coach were great about it. We still had 11 seconds, even I missed both.”

She missed the first but hit the second and the Valley Central Vikings held on for a 31-30 victory to claim third place in the tournament, and for her effort, O’Connor was named to the all-tournament team.

“It was so exciting,” O’Connor said. “I’m so honored, and it was rally special. I was shocked.”

Gabby Shapiro was named to the all-tournament team for Cornwall.

Valley Central fell to the consolation bracket after falling to Red Hook, 67-32 on Dec. 18. Morgan Tompkins and McKenzie Simmons, who were named to the all-tournament team after the Raiders’ 59-51 loss to host Wallkill in the championship game.

Riley Schmidt scored 12 points.

But on Thursday, the Vikings started clawing their way back in the second half and pulled to within a point of the Dragons with 4:02 left in the third quarter on O’Connor’s putback and continued to trail by a point at the end of the third quarter.

“We were just playing a really aggressive game,” O’Connor said. “Even if some of our shots weren’t going in, we just made sure that we were aggressive on defense without fouling, and aggressive on offense and making crisp passes because eventually they did start going in.”

After the Dragons scored three straight points, O’Connor hit a bucket, and Riley Schmidt’s layup tied the game at 28 with 3:43 remaining.

The Vikings took a brief lead on Mac Delmonico’s layup, but Maddie Walsh tied the game at 30-30 with a layup.

“The score started showing how hard we’re playing, and we started coming back, the crowd gets amped up and our teammates get amped up, it really helps,” O’Connor said. “And it’s really positive for our team morale.

I definitely think our fourth-quarter energy was a lot harder.”

It’s been a tough road for the Vikings this month as they entered Thursday’s game having lost seven of their first eight games. They hadn’t won since a 39-11 win over John S. Burke Catholic on Dec. 3.

Thursday’s victory gave the Vikings an opportunity to go into 2022 on a positive note.

“I think we’ve come a long way,” O’Connor said. “Every practice and game, we’re improving and getting to know each other as players much better so we can work well together. I think we’re just going to keep getting better from here as well.”