Cedar Park Christian’s girls came through in the clutch and live to play another day.

Junior Rachel Staudacher scored the game’s final seven points to complete a thrilling comeback and give the Eagles a 46-42 win at home over Nooksack Valley in Thursday night’s loser-out 1A tri-district playoffs.

The Eagles (20-5 overall) will play Cascade Christian at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mountlake Terrace High in a winner-to-state matchup. The loser will be done for the season.

“It was really intense, but we pulled through at the end and we made our shots. Rachel helped us and got us back in — it was good,” said senior Erin Halvorson.

Nooksack led 32-29 after three quarters and remained ahead, 42-39, before Staudacher buried a 3-pointer with 1:01 remaining in the fourth to knot the game at 42-42. She then hit four free throws — including one of two technical shots — to finish off Nooksack. Senior Mikaela Raschick had a crucial steal down the stretch to contribute to the win.

“It was really nerve-wracking at first, but once we tied it, I knew we could come back and everybody did what they were supposed to do,” Raschick said.

Staudacher finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, followed by Raschick with 13 points and three steals. Cedar Park shot 18-for-29 from the field.

So, with Nooksack rebounding from a 21-15 halftime deficit and holding onto its lead with just over a minute to go, what were the Eagles thinking?

“I remember me, Mikaela and Rachel looked at each other and we were like, ‘It’s not over yet,’ because we knew we didn’t want this to be our last game,” Halvorson said. “This is a good solid team and we’re all doing what we need to do, and we hope to make it to state again.”

And they’ll go at it again on Saturday against a team the Eagles defeated last year to qualify for state.