Tyler Legacy Lady Raiders capture bi-district victory. (Brandon Ogden/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

CORSICANA — In sports, the term “X-factor” is often thrown around.

For the Tyler Legacy Lady Raiders, it was the Z-factor that proved to be the difference in a 35-32 win over Wylie in the bi-district round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs on Tuesday night at Corsicana High School.

Sophomore Zareya Ceasar scored a game-high 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, and senior Zion Smith finished with six points and three steals. All 20 of their points came in the two pivotal stretches for the Lady Raiders, and senior New Mexico State signee Senoj Jones scored eight of her 10 points in the final 12 minutes of the contest while also contributing eight rebounds and three blocks.

“Huge,” Tyler Legacy head girls basketball coach Ross Barber said. “Zion came through. Zareya hit some great shots tonight and was very confident with the basketball. Senoj, we finally got her going late in the game to get some big buckets down low. Credit to the team for a good team effort.”

Legacy went scoreless for more than four minutes to start the game, trailing 3-0. Barber went to his bench, and the offense came in the final minutes of the opening quarter.

DeCaila Bailey found Smith for a layup on a baseline out of bounds play to put the Lady Raiders on the board with 3:33 to play. Just 13 seconds later, Ceasar hit a 3-pointer as the Lady Raiders went on an 11-0 run to end the quarter with Bailey hitting a runner at the buzzer to give the Lady Raiders an 11-3 lead.

Legacy made just one field goal in the second quarter — a Ceasar triple — and led 15-9 at halftime.

The Lady Raiders went cold in the third quarter, and the Lady Pirates got hot. Wylie went on an 18-5 run — with Jones scoring all of the Lady Raiders’ points in that span — to take a 27-20 lead.

Ceasar hit a three in the final minute of the third quarter to cut the score to 27-23 and spark a 15-2 run. Ceasar’s layup and free throw with 3:23 remaining gave Legacy the lead for good at 31-29.

“I’m glad I was able to do my part to be able to get this win,” Ceasar said.

An offensive rebound and two free throws by Holland Pine and then a layup by Smith gave the Lady Raiders a 35-29 lead with 2:01 remaining.

Wylie freshman Aubrey Green got a three-point play with 1:03 on the clock to cut the score to 35-32. Legacy was able to burn a lot of time off the clock with Wylie having multiple fouls to give. Eventually, the Lady Raiders went to the line with 21 seconds remaining and missed both free throws. Wylie’s Green and Roni Hartfield missed layups before the ball went out on Legacy with 9.3 seconds to play.

The Lady Pirates got Green a look at a tying triple from the top of the key that was no good, and Hartfield missed the putback before Jones grabbed the rebound and time expired.

“It was a tough game,” Ceasar said. “I’m happy we were able to win and go to the next round.”

“They’re a good basketball team,” Barber said. “It’s not like we have a one-four matchup. That’s a good basketball team. Our goal was they couldn’t have a big quarter. Well, they had a big quarter in the third, but we regained our composure. That says a lot about this team, especially since we haven’t been in the playoffs with this group before. They found their composure, played hard and found a way to win. That’s what matters at this point and time of the year.”

Legacy (30-4), ranked No. 18 in the state in Class 6A, advances to face No. 10 Cedar Hill in the area round at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Fairfield High School.

Green led Wylie (19-12) with 8 points. Shamaya Johnson had 6 points. Micha Lovelace scored 5. Hartfield finished with 4 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

Other scorers for Legacy were Pine and Bailey 2 each; and Grace Mills 1. Bailey also had four steals. Legacy’s bench finished with 22 points.