COOS BAY — Three times this season, Myrtle Point’s girls basketball team beat Coquille in a showdown of two of the better Class 3A teams in the state.

But on Saturday, in the game that mattered most, Coquille made several clutch plays down the stretch to beat the top-ranked Bobcats 43-38 in the championship game of the Sunset Conference tournament.

The win gave the Red Devils the league’s top seed for the state playoffs, while Myrtle Point enters as the No. 2 seed.

Coquille will host Oregon Episcopal, the fourth-place team from the Lewis & Clark League, on Friday night, while Myrtle Point hosts Santiam Christian, the runner-up from the Pac West League.

The Red Devils were understandably ecstatic after the game.

“We’ve been saying we could do it,” Coquille’s Katlyn Shaw said of beating Myrtle Point. “Now we’ve finally done it.”

The Red Devils won by making key plays down the stretch.

Myrtle Point led 28-25 early in the fourth quarter when Emily Usselman hit a long jumper for the Red Devils. Katy Pflaum then gave Coquille the lead with an inside basket on a pass from her sister, Mary Jo.

That gave Coquille the lead for good.

Shaw hit a free throw and then scored consecutive hoops after good passes when her teammates got through Myrtle Point’s half-court pressure. After a couple of turnovers and a missed free throw by the Bobcats, Shaw had her third straight hoop, this time on a pass from Katy Pflaum, and the Red Devils led by eight.

The Bobcats got back-to-back hoops by Krissy Johnston and Kylee Fischer to cut the lead in half, but Usselman made both halves of a one-and-one opportunity with 1:27 remaining.

After Sam Sanders hit a foul shot for the Bobcats, Shaw made one for Coquille. Johnston scored again for Myrtle Point with 55 seconds to go and Coquille had a turnover, but Sanders missed a 3-pointer — one of 16 misses from long range by the Bobcats during the game.

Coquille’s Christie Andy traded free throws with Johnston and Pflaum hit a foul shot with 20 seconds remaining. Johnston had a rebound hoop with six seconds remaining for Myrtle Point, but Pflaum hit two more free throws to clinch the victory for the Red Devils.

Myrtle Point coach Marty Stallard voiced his frustrations about the system after the game, questioning why a team that finished with a perfect record in league play would need to win a tournament game to earn the league’s top seed for the playoffs.

“I’ve always said this playoff setup isn’t very good,” Stallard said.

“You can only get up (for games) so many times. I’m proud of the season we had and I’m proud of the effort we gave. We just didn’t shoot well.”

Myrtle Point was just 4-for-25 in the first half — a similar percentage to the first win over the Red Devils in league play. This time, the team’s defense couldn’t carry it through the whole way as Coquille came up with offense in the final quarter.

“All hats off to them,” Stallard said. “They made free throws down the stretch when they had to.”

The Red Devils made their breakthrough by running the court.

“We knew if we ran them, they would get tired,” Shaw said.

Coquille also had a solid game rebounding.

Pflaum grabbed 12 rebounds to go with her 13 points, and as a team, Coquille had a 43-37 edge on the boards.

“We knew we needed to get the boards,” Pflaum said.

“The last two times we’ve been playing them, they outrebounded us,” Shaw added.

Coquille is a senior-dominated team, but the Red Devils got a huge lift Saturday from three freshmen.

Posts Allison Cook and Courtney Davis were called upon extensively in the first three quarters as the Red Devils had frequent fouls in the post trying to guard Johnston and fellow Myrtle Point post Cally Kennedy.

Johnston finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds, but no other Bobcats reached double figures.

Christie Andy, meanwhile, played a vital role in controlling the ball with Laurie Breuer missing the game after suffering an ankle sprain in Friday’s win over Gold Beach.

“Our freshmen — they played huge,” said Coquille coach Jennifer Sproul. “It was a great team effort.”

One thing Sproul was proud of was how the Red Devils handled Myrtle Point’s pressure.

“We did a good job of taking care of the ball and we never became timid,” Sproul said. “That was a huge step for us.”

Coquille had 24 turnovers in their second league loss to Myrtle Point, but just 14 Saturday.

To that end, Coquille benefited from scrimmaging the boys junior varsity team in practice before the league tournament.

“That helps so much,” Shaw said. “They’re so fast.”

After the three earlier losses to the Bobcats, Sproul was happy to see her team come through Saturday.

“This is the game you practice for all year long,” she said. “We knew there was no more saying, ‘We’ll get them next time.’”