In their final Inter-Ac League road game on Feb. 10, the girls of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy came away with a loss but still played some of their best basketball of the season.

At Episcopal Academy, the sixth-place SCH Blue Devils led the third-ranked Churchwomen by a point two minutes into the fourth quarter, having come back from a 20-14 halftime deficit. In the end, Episcopal rallied to win, 46-40, improving to a 6-4 record in the league and 11-7 overall. SCH slipped to 2-9 in the Inter-Ac and 10-11 against all opponents.

Senior Flo Ajunwa led the Blue Devils with a dozen points, and senior Pia Swamy and junior Kendall Schnee each scored nine. Junior Kate Boerner recorded a game-high 20 points for Episcopal.

Another EA junior, Addi Thomas, put the first points on the board with a pair of free throws. Sophomore Mimi Gallagher evened things up with a layup. Then SCH went ahead with two made free throws by Ajunwa. The Churchwomen countered with seven straight points, and they led 9-6 at the end of the opening quarter.

More than halfway through the second period, the Churchwomen had gone up by eight points, 17-9. The Blue Devils were able to avoid a double-digit deficit as Ajunwa lobbed in a trey from the right side and Swamy drove for a layup. In the final minute, EA’s Boerner bagged her second three-pointer of the quarter, and the hosts were up 20-14 at the intermission.

Schnee would score all of her nine points in the second half, and started things off with a “three” from the right wing. Ajunwa also struck from the perimeter, and a little later Schnee scored back-to-back baskets, putting in the rebound of her own shot and then scoring in transition off of a feed from Gallagher.

The visitors now led, 25-24, and the Churchwomen called time out with 5:31 to go in the third quarter. Over the next four minutes, Episcopal outscored the Devils, 11-6, but with 20 seconds left Swamy sank two foul shots, getting her squad within two points of the leaders (35-33) heading into the final frame.

Schnee opened the fourth with a medium-range jumper, and then Ajunwa made the second of two free throws to give the Blue Devils their last lead at 36-35 with six minutes left to play. SCH then put Episcopal players on the foul line three times, where the hosts made four of six tosses. That wasn’t all, though. EA added a baseline jumper and a three-pointer to round out a 9-0 run that took the clock down below two minutes.

SCH then exchanged two made free throws by eighth-grader Classie Moses for two by Episcopal, and with just under a minute remaining, Swamy hit two shots from the charity stripe to put the 46-40 final score on the board.

The Churchwomen had several chances to pad their lead but, uncharacteristically, Boerner missed four straight shots from the foul line. She redeemed herself by stealing the ball from the visitors in the final seconds.

In addition to the efforts of the three primary scorers, Springside Chestnut Hill received five points apiece from Gallagher and Moses. In addition to Boerner, two other players finished in double figures for the victors, Thomas with 11 points, and sophomore Clara Rendle with 10.

UPDATE: Two days after the Episcopal game, the Blue Devils completed their league schedule with a 56-24 win over last-place Baldwin School. On Friday, they engaged in a play-in game for a spot in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools tournament. In that contest, they lost to host Germantown Friends, 48-45, finishing the season 3-9 in the Inter-Ac and 11-12 overall.