By Tyler Clifton
Special to pvpanthers.com

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Arianna Rountree did her best to stay calm despite the clock ticking down from 17 seconds as she was running to place the soccer ball exactly where she wanted it.
 
The senior executed her ground kick to perfection with 10 seconds on the clock, as it was like a pinball machine near the Jackson State net. Several of Rountree's Prairie View A&M teammates converged, and the ball went off the tip of Khalisha Bond's foot into the net as time expired to lift the No. 7 seed Lady Panthers past No. 2 seed Jackson State 1-0 in overtime Thursday to open the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.
 
Prairie View A&M (9-8-1) advances to the semifinal round to face third-seeded Alabama State, a 3-0 winner against Texas Southern, at 1 p.m. on Friday. Jackson State ends its season at 11-7-2.
 
The winner moves to the championship game at 11 a.m. on Sunday against the Howard-Mississippi Valley State winner.
 
"This is the best feeling in the world, and we were going to take the win any way we could get it," said Bond. "Coach called the same play we ran in the first half, and we were finally able to convert it into a goal. It was a frenzy in the net."      
 
Third time was the charm for the Lady Panthers, as it was the third time head coach Abe Garcia called the play, and it came to fruition at just the right moment.
 
"The girls kept fighting, and we didn't want to make this 13-hour trip and have to drive right back without a win," Garcia said. "I'm so pleased with the way we performed, and the girls dug deep and were confident enough to pull out the win. We weren't able to connect and had a lot of young players with some first-half jitters, but we finally relaxed and played our game."
 
Goalkeeper Dominique Dillon came out smelling like a rose, as she not only made six saves in 100 minutes, but she predicted a victory by preaching how the team was not going to go home the first night. It took a dramatic finish for her prediction to come true.
 
"We all stayed composed and relaxed and knew we weren't going to go home tonight," Dillon said. "We were able to focus without many distractions, and this was such a nice win."
  
It also didn't hurt Dillon to have the solid defense from the back four of Alex Fields, Breanna Powell, Braelah McGinnis, and Reina Cruz, who was playing with a separated shoulder.
 
Jackson State outshot the Lady Panthers 11-7, as the quartet of Bond, Alicia Cooper, Courtney Aleman and Reshana Watson combined with Rountree and Bailey LaBauve for six of the team's seven shots on goal. They all came in the second half after having only two shots in the first.
 
Rountree's shot late in the second half landed just on top of the net, and both teams had a stretch of three consecutive corner kicks which were thwarted. Dillon knocked a loose ball from the front of her net and made a stop of a Jalana Ellis short hop.
 
The Lady Panthers just missed scoring at the end of regulation, before their overtime heroics allowed them to stay in town.
 
Prairie View A&M held its own against the Lady Tigers, fighting to a scoreless tie after the first 45 minutes. There were only seven combined shots, five of them by Jackson State.
 
Dillon stopped three shots, including two in the first 17 minutes and another stop on a breakaway with 12:40 remaining in the half. She picked up her fourth shutout of the season.
 
Tyler Clifton is the former sports editor of the Marshall News-Messenger in Marshall, Texas. He currently resides in Huntsville, Ala. Clifton will be tweeting from Prairie View A&M's soccer matches at the SWAC Tournament. He can be followed at @tclif20.