White Bear Lake’s Lauren Eckerle is accustomed to scoring a few more points than the four she had Wednesday. Eckerle averages a team-leading 16.3 points per game and recently topped 1,000 for her career.

But this was a quality-over-quantity situation, and it’s safe to say Eckerle has no complaints after the Bears weathered Rosemount’s physical style to beat the Irish 35-34 at Williams Arena and advance to Thursday’s Class 4A semifinals of the girls’ basketball state tournament.

Eckerle stripped the ball from Rosemount’s Anna Tauer with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter and White Bear Lake clinging to a one-point lead. Eckerle cruised to an uncontested layup, giving the Bears a 34-31 lead that nearly stood up for the rest of the game.

“Sometimes you can just tell where the ball is going,” Eckerle said. “I took a chance and it worked out.”

Better than the Bears (21-9) could have hoped. Playing the tight brand of defense that had been the norm for both teams all game, they forced Rosemount to miss seven consecutive shots down the stretch, including a runner by Ava Thompson and putback by Tayah Leenderts that failed to fall in the game’s final 10 seconds.

“Anything can happen. That game was clearly a defensive matchup, but it’s kind of surprising to go the the last three minutes without a point,” said Ecklerle, who has signed to play soccer at South Dakota State.

Neither team scored until White Bear Lake’s Addi Bachmeier made the first of two free throws with five seconds left, giving the Bears a four-point lead. Rosemount’s Nicole O’Neil made a three-pointer as time ran out for the final score.

Rosemount coach Chris Orr said he wasn’t surprised that scoring was at a premium. “They’re a great defensive team,” he said. ”We’re a great defensive team. That’s why it was such a low-scoring game.”