The team with a penchant for letting close games slip away wrapped its arms around a 45-43 triumph over South Rowan in the Sam Moir Christmas Classic.

“We really showed our mental toughness and intensity in the fourth quarter,” senior Tina Harkness said at Catawba’s Goodman Gymnasium, where the Lady War Eagles earned a berth opposite top-seeded North Rowan in tonight’s semifinals.

“In some of our previous losses, they’d go up and we wouldn’t answer,” she continued. “This time we did.”

They almost didn’t. Fourth-seeded Davie (5-6) squandered all of a 13-point third-period lead and found itself down 39-38 following Aprille Easley’s left-side bank shot with 2:32 to play.

“We had put ourselves in a comfortable position,” said third-year coach Carol Cozart. “Then all of a sudden we stopped playing defense. My goodness, there was one time when they had four putbacks right underneath the basket. It doesn’t take a basketball genius to know you can’t let that happen.”

Leading the South charge was sophomore Brittney Gaddy, the 6-1 glass-eater who collected eight rebounds in the second half. She also scored seven of her game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, when South (2-8) used a 9-0 run to take its first lead since the game’s opening minute.

“I don’t like to praise Gaddy too much,” said Raiders’ coach James Greene. “She can be a whole lot better than she is. Just say that she is going to be a tremendous player.”

The game’s impact players down the stretch were Davie’s Harkness and Julie McDaniel. Harkness gave DC a 40-39 lead when she slipped through a seam and drove for a layup with 2:12 to play. Half a minute later she zipped a pass to teammate Lauren Cornatzer for an open bank shot and then, with just 48 seconds on the clock, she bounced a pass to Jerri Ann Angell for an easy layup from the right baseline.

“When we got down and then put in those couple buckets,” Cozart explained afterward, “I think that told us we were all right. It’s not like we relaxed, but our confidence grew a little more.”

Even if their advantage didn’t. South sprinted toward the finish line, with Gaddy out in front. First she converted a pair of free throws to trim the deficit to 44-41 with less than a minute remaining. Then with just 5.9 seconds to go she elevated for an offensive rebound, sank a layup and called for a timeout.

“It was getting hairy,” Harkness would later say. “But we held on. We survived the second half.”

Davie can thank McDaniel for that. The senior forward, who spent as much time scrambling for loose balls on the floor as she did launching set shots, clinched the win and closed the scoring when she made the front end of a one-and-one with 4.9 seconds to go.

“I don’t care who comes through in the end, as long as we win,” said McDaniel, who paced the Eagles with 14 points. “It was pretty aggressive out there. But if you don’t come out with a few bruises, you probably didn’t play the game right.”

In that case McDaniel — who was spelled frequently due to a slight cold and asthma — and her teammates came out looking just fine.

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NOTES: Harkness added 13 points for Davie, which last won the tournament in 1995...South forward Jennifer Morgan shot only 2-for-10 from the field but scored eight points in her first game since taking 40 stitches inside and out of her mouth on Dec. 20...The Raiders were scheduled to meet Salisbury (0-9) in a losers bracket game this afternoon.

SOUTH Rowan (43) —

DAVIE (45) — McDaniel 14, Harkness 13, Michael 4, Williams 2, Hamm 2, Morton 2, Hepler 2, Merlau 2, Cornatzer 2, Angell 2, Raynor, Moore, Gajewski.

South Rowan 9 10 11 13 — 43