You might say the Lady Braves literally stole the District hoop title from Orcas Friday night.

La Conner head coach Scott Novak would rather term it a case of his club taking care of business late in regulation and in overtime to cash in on a hard-fought, 62-59 blue-collar victory.

La Conner trailed by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter before forcing a series of Orcas turnovers, the last of which was a steal and layup by Lauren Reynolds with 19 seconds left that tied the score at 57-57 and forced the extra session.

Reynolds added another steal and layin, while Anna Cook — who led all scorers with 16 points — hit a deft runner in traffic and sank a foul shot to clinch matters in OT.

With the District championship win, La Conner sealed a Regional tourney berth and is scheduled to host a Bi-District matchup tomorrow at 6 p.m. against a yet-to-be-determined foe.

But before looking ahead, Novak couldn’t help but reflect upon his club’s grinder of a win over Orcas.

“We overcame a lot of adversity,” said Novak, who drew his first technical foul in six years. “When you commit 27 turnovers like we did and go four for 16 from the free throw line, you don’t usually win.

“But somehow we found a way to get the job done,” he stressed. “The girls showed a lot of grit. There was no way they were going to lose.”

Even when trailing 55-45 with just over four minutes to play in the fourth period.

That’s when the Lady Braves parlayed several steals into quick points.

Senior post Aubrey Stewart, playing with four fouls, triggered the run with a nice post-up move in the paint.

Katie Novak, following an Orcas miscue, drained her fourth deep trey of the night to pull the Lady Braves within 55-50 with just over three minutes on the clock.

Cook then produced a quick steal and layup, trimming the Lady Viking edge to 55-52.

Orcas sharpshooter Bella Negretto briefly stopped the bleeding with a pair of charity tosses.

But Novak, who finished with 15 points, answered with her fifth trey, cutting the Lady Viking lead to 57-55 at the :26 mark.

Reynolds, who like Stewart played much of the game with four fouls, finished a 12-2 La Conner run seven seconds later with her steal and tying layup.

The Lady Braves trailed early in overtime, at 59-57, when Alicia Susol hit two foul shots.

Cook’s runner knotted the count at 59-59 before La Conner went ahead for good on a Reynolds steal — her 10th — and layup with 1:03 to play.

Orcas, which up to that point had shot at a torrid pace — especially from behind the trey line — went scoreless the rest of the way.

“It was a great shooting game,” coach Novak acknowledged afterward. “We hit eight threes and they hit seven. There was a stretch in the second and third quarters where it seemed like they didn’t miss.”

Negretto led the Lady Vikings with 14 points. Hannah Brunner chipped in 13 more.

Shelby Rogers tallied a dozen for Orcas, all on treys, while Susol added 10 points.

Reynolds had 12 points to join Cook and Novak in double-digits for the victors.

Katie McKnight, who played a nearly flawless floor game, meshed seven points — including a big three-pointer early in the fourth quarter.

Stewart and Nakiya Edwards, the latter of whom hit a pair of key treys, rounded out a balanced Lady Braves attack with six points apiece.

La Conner, now 17-4, posed serious matchup problems all night for Orcas. The Lady Vikings had to contend with Cook and Stewart down low, then scramble on the perimeter, when Novak, Edwards, and McKnight got good looks.

Still, the visitors nearly pulled the upset, thanks to hot shooting from both the field and foul stripe.

The difference was a late 17-4 Lady Braves spurt that came when all seemed lost.

Somehow, La Conner kept its poise.

“During a timeout,” said Cook, who also reeled in 15 rebounds, “coach Novak told us not to panic, that we were still in the game.”

In the game, and as things turned out, on top of their game when it mattered most.