Easton and Emmaus had similar experiences through the first two rounds of the District 11 girls basketball tournament.

Both had convincing quarterfinal-round wins and had to fight through a difficult game in the semifinals to reach Friday night’s finals at Allen High School.

The title game was determined by the swing of momentum that finished on the side of the Red Rovers as the top seed in the tournament picked up a 45-41 win to deny Emmaus its first district championship since the 2003-04 season.

Trailing by a point with 2:50 left in regulation, the Hornets’ Olive Whitney hit a three before an Eva Glover basket gave the Hornets a 41-37 with 2:16 left.

The Rovers’ Gabby Wismer scored to make it a two-point game and Easton’s defense got a stop. Ava Muhammed drove the lane for a basket and a foul. The basket tied the game and sinking the foul shot gave Easton a 42-41 lead with just 1:23 left. Easton’s defense shut the door and gave the Rovers their second district title in four seasons with the 45-41 win.

“I have to bring that one home, because the girls gave me everything they had and I couldn’t ask any more,” said Emmaus coach Avon Mack. “We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and figure it out. These ladies fought hard and this is a tough, tough way to lose.”

A key turning point late in the game was the rebounding as Easton controlled the boards at both ends of the court, limiting the Emmaus opportunities and finding extra chances for themselves. Until then, the teams had been evenly matched on the boards.

“We had to get on the boards and win that better is a lot of it,” said Mack. “They were first to a couple more of them (rebounds) than we were; it’s like that sometimes.”

Emmaus trailed early in the game.

With 2:39 left in the first quarter, Easton’s Ava Muhammed snapped the scoring drought with a drive to the basket.

Easton held a 12-7 edge when the horn sounded after one quarter.

Emmaus pulled to 12-10 before Gabby East hit a three-pointer to give Emmaus its first lead of the night with 3:59 left in the first half. Olive Whitney hit the second of two foul shots ahead of another three from East and as the teams went into the break, Emmaus held Easton to just two points in the quarter and enjoyed an 18-14 lead.

The Rovers closed some holes on their defense and trailed 20-18 when they came up with a steal and a basket from Natalie Amato to tie the game and before Emmaus could get anywhere near midcourt, another steal and a basket by Muhammed gave Easton a 22-20 lead that was short-lived.

Emmaus took better care of the ball and found some new holes in the Easton defense to go on a 14-2 run that started with a three-pointer from Sierra Stevens that gave Emmaus the lead back with 5:17 left in the quarter.

The Hornets kept pounding away and Whitney put an exclamation point on the run when she hit a three-point shot with just :03 left to give Emmaus what would be their biggest lead of the night at 34-24.

Somewhere between the sound of the horn and the sound of the referee’s whistle to start the final quarter, the tide turned and the Hornets became the team that couldn’t get a shot to drop. Meanwhile, Easton found an extra gear and used it to their advantage. After pulling themselves to within five, Easton forced a turnover at midcourt and Gabby Wismer sailed in for a layup that made it 36-33. Muhammed hit a little jumper and after Emmaus failed at the other end Muhammed pulled in a rebound off the offensive boards and put a shot back up and in to make it 37-36 in favor of Easton.

Both teams advance to the state playoffs, which begin Friday. Emmaus (20-7) will host District 1’s seventh-place team CB East (22-4). Easton (25-3) will host Neshaminy (19-6), the ninth-place team out of District 1.