Megan Honeycutt’s free throw with two seconds left in overtime gave coach Gary Atwell’s Cavaliers a hard-earned 77-76 victory over Bandys in the first round of the state 2A playoffs here Tuesday night.

North, as local fans will remember, played well back in December while winning the Sam Moir Christmas Classic at Catawba College. This time, the Cavaliers were playing on Bandys’ home court in the small town of Catawba, located in Catawba County.

North (16-7) advanced to the second round of the playoffs and will travel to Charlotte Catholic (20-4) of the Rocky River Conference at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Honeycutt, who scored a game-high 28 points and added 14 rebounds, struggled at the foul line in overtime, missing the front end of two one-and-ones in the final 40 seconds — one of them an air ball.

So, when the 5-10 senior forward went to the foul line for two shots with two seconds left and the score tied, she had reason to be nervous. Bandys’ fans were stomping on the bleachers and yelling, “Air ball, air ball.”

“I was just basically praying and hoping that those two would fall in,’’ said Honeycutt, who missed the second attempt.“I made the first one, and I was hoping I’d make the second one, too, but as long as the first one went in, it was a good thing that second one went out, so they didn’t have time to really set up anything. With two seconds left, it didn’t give them much choice, so it kind of worked out good for us,” said Honeycutt.

Bandys (16-11) of the Southern District 7 had tied the score with 15.5 seconds left when reserve guard Brooks Coffey made two free throws.

Honeycutt then drove the lane to put up a short jumper, but was fouled by Bandys star Kristin Houser.

“Coach Atwell told us during the time out, ‘If we can get it, take it to the basket and try to get fouled. If you don’t get fouled, then get the easy two,’” said the North standout.

North rallied from a seven-point deficit of 42-35 at the beginning of the third quarter and from a four-point deficit of 70-66 with 51 seconds left in regulation.

“Basically, I didn’t want this to be my last game. As a senior you don’t want to go out in the first round. You want to keep dancing as far as you can. We had it in our mind that we didn’t want to lose, so I think that getting to overtime or to win it was the key thing in our minds,” she said.

Teammate Joyce Hipps forced it into overtime when the junior point guard hit a follow shot with 13 seconds left in regulation after Honeycutt’s missed baseline jumper.

Bandys had the ball with a chance to take the last shot, but Hipps drew a charge from opposing point guard Monica Helderman in the closing seconds.

Hipps, who had a solid game with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals, then scored two big baskets in overtime, the second to give her team a 76-73 lead with 1:02 to play.

“I was just trying to hope we could pull it out in overtime,” said Hipps. “We played pretty hard, but if we had played them like Ledford, I don’t think they would have been this close,” she added, referring to last week’s 45-44 loss to powerful Ledford in the semifinals of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament.

“We played hard against them (Bandys) too, but we didn’t do a couple of good things right, boxing out like we wanted to,” said Hipps.

Playing Ledford three times and CCC champion High Point Central twice helped the Cavaliers get ready for the tense playoff atmosphere.

“It got us prepared, especially for overtime, when we were coming down to the last-second shot again.It was difficult, but we pulled it out,” Hipps said.

Honeycutt and Hipps combined for 42 of North’s points, but teammates Courtney Hill and Amber Hill had productive nights, too, finishing with 16 and 12, respectively. Courtney Hill was unstoppable at one stretch, making eight straight field goals. Amber Hill led North’s fourth-quarter scoring with six points. The other starter, forward Latoya Tucker, added seven points.

“Toya Tucker probably played her best game of the year, even though she didn’t score much,” said Atwell. “She probably played her best defensive game of the year. I was extremely proud of her. Her and Megan stepped up as seniors tonight. If the seniors don’t want the season to end, sometimes it’s not going to end.”

Atwell agreed that the five games against Ledford and High Point Central helped his team last night.

“We learned to play different defenses. Normally, I’m a 2-3 drop zone defense. Shoot, we played four different defenses tonight. Just because of having to do different things against Ledford and High Point Central helped us out in that respect,” said the North coach.

Houser, a 5-10 junior forward who made four 3-pointers and scored 24 points, threw a scare into Atwell when she started the game with a 3-pointer.

“She steps out and hits a 22-footer the first shot of the game, I said, ‘Oh, heck,’” said Atwell with a big laugh.

Houser got only seven of her points after halftime with Atwell switching to a box-and-one defense on her. Honeycutt guarded Houser most of that time.

“They played with a lot of heart,” Atwell said of his players. “They’re getting after it right now. I just hope we keep doing it. They’re leaving their whole heart and everything on the floor right now. You can’t ask for any more than that.”

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NOTES: North was 35-for-75 (46.7 percent) on field goals and 6-for-12 at the foul line. Bandys was only 26-for-63 (41.3 percent) from the floor, but made seven 3-pointers to one for the Cavs. ... The home team went to the foul line often, going 17-for-27 to the Cavs’ 6-for-12. ... Hipps and Courtney Hill each had four fouls by late in the third quarter. Hill eventually fouled out late in regulation, but Hipps played the entire fourth quarter and overtime without committing a foul. ... North had a 42-37 rebound edge. ... Bandys got 20 points out of 5-10 sophomore forward Lindsey Pope, most of them in the second half, and 14 out of Helderman, who had nine assists. ... Bandys has won six state 2A championships (1977, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988 and 1994).

NORTH ROWAN (77) — Honeycutt 28, Tucker 7, C. Hill 16, A. Hill 12, Hipps 14, Bowie, Bowers, Craige.

BANDYS (76) — Pope 20, Morrison, Houser 24, Helderman 14, Mackie 9, Coffey 8, Beard.

North Rowan 18 17 18 17 7 — 77