Thirty-five minutes after Dimond's girls basketball team trudged into its temporary locker room at Sullivan Arena early Tuesday evening, dazed and disappointed by defeat, the best of the bunch finally emerged.

Keiahnna Engel had cried a river, each rivulet a reminder of responsibility. Her eyes remained red, her heart hurt.

She is Alaska's best 4A basketball player in the judgment of the state's big-schools coaches, a 5-foot-9 guard who is startlingly quick, possessed of speed and strength and so very much talent, determined to impose her will on the game, which she often does with a smile creasing her face. Her picture adorns the cover of the program for the state high school basketball tournament.

And she was the reason the Lynx hung with Wasilla through every second of regulation and overtime before falling 44-43 in the semifinals.

But in the bitter final seconds of regulation, Engel made a mistake. She thought her team was ahead. In truth, the score was tied. She had the ball on the wing and seemed to be waiting for the draining clock to melt below 10 seconds before she made a move to the bucket and the prospect of the potential game-winning shot.

The seconds kept ticking off the clock, though, and Engel made no move. With three or four seconds left, she even picked up her dribble, cradled the ball to her chest and said, "Yeah,'' drawing that one satisfying syllable out for a couple seconds.

Along the Dimond sideline during those excruciating seconds, coaches and players stood or sat, too confused to scream for a timeout, then stunned with disbelief.

Engel was stunned too. She thought her team was ahead. It wasn't. Regulation died with the ball in her hands.

"I was thinking, 'OK, they're going to foul me,' '' Engel said. "I looked at the bench and everybody was sitting there looking at me to do something, and I thought, 'Why? We're up.

"It was just bad.''

Dimond coach Jim Young at first thought Engel was merely milking the clock to single digits, waiting for a screen to be set for her and a buzzer beater.

"It was a perfect situation,'' Young said. "There's really not much to say. It's tough.''

Wasilla coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax couldn't quite believe what she saw.

"It's something I've never seen her do,'' Hebert-Truax said. "I was surprised not to see her take it to the basket.''

And so the game moved to overtime, which Engel opened with a defensive rebound, a coast-to-coast gallop and a layup to give the Lynx a 40-38 lead. But Wasilla's Alexis Imoe made a bold, strong drive to the hoop to give the Warriors a 44-43 edge with about six seconds left.

"She's the one who took the ball and ran with it,'' said Hebert-Truax, whose team faces Juneau into tonight's championship game. "It wasn't exactly the play we drew up, but it worked.''

By the time Dimond called timeout, just 1.9 seconds remained.

Sierra Afoa inbounded the ball at half court, delivering it to Engel, who already owned game highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds. Engel got off a running 25-footer from the right side. The buzzer blared while her shot was in the air, but her bid at redemption clanged off the near side of the rim.

The Warriors whooped.

The Lynx lamented.

Engel anguished.

She dropped to her knees and buried her face in the floor, seemingly inconsolable.

What followed, though, taught those of us who don't know Engel something about her that is more important than her ability to dominate on a basketball court, or her considerable feats in flag football and track and field.

After the teams went through the traditional handshake line, Engel was announced as Dimond's Player of the Game. She was presented her award by Bernard Jackson, a long-time referee, a banker with the sponsoring First National Bank Alaska and the honorary chair of the March Madness committee.

Engel walked to center court, shook Jackson's hand, said "Thank you,'' as she accepted her award and posed for a picture with him before she and her teammates retreated to the locker room.

"She's going to take it personal,'' Young said.

Soon, the Lynx exited the room, a couple here, a few there, some alone. Just one player remained. And when Keiahnna Engel emerged, she showed that hard times don't expose character as much as reveal it.

After sitting in the locker room for more than a half hour, Engel came out and sat on a small padded bench for an interview with a stranger. She shook hands, looked him in the eye, patiently answered his bumbling questions and even offered a smile or two.

And then she was off -- off to cry whatever tears she had left and to prepare for this morning's third-place game against West.

"It was very nice to meet you,'' Keiahnna Engel said.

Same here.