FARMINGTON, Mo. -- State champions die hard.

Sometimes they decide not to die at all.

In a scintillating finish, Notre Dame used a buzzer shot to force overtime and then finished off Lutheran South in overtime for a 72-68 victory in a Class 4 quarterfinal Saturday night at the Farmington Civic Center Saturday.

Notre Dame (21-7), last year's Class 2 state champion, will make its third consecutive state appearance and first in Class 4 in a semifinal Friday. Its opponent will be either Bolivar or Carthage, who played late Saturday night.

In an up-tempo, physical contest between two evenly matched teams, Notre Dame appeared on the verge of having a 15-game winning streak and its season ended. The Bulldogs trailed the entire fourth quarter and faced their biggest deficit of the game, 54-47, with 4:33 left.

The Bulldogs still trailed by six points inside the final minute but came back to force overtime.

Sommer McCauley emerged as the hero, swishing a 3-pointer through at the buzzer to tie the score at 61-61.

"I probably said about 10 prayers when I was shooting that three -- in different languages," McCauley said. "I just couldn't think."

Senior Ashley Millham scored a game-high 29 points while McCauley finished with 17 and Erin Pfau had 12.

Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim, whose team was making its fifth consecutive quarterfinal appearance, was nearly speechless.

"I don't think I've ever had one this dramatic," Grim said. "I mean, we've gone to four overtimes before, and still it wasn't this bad."

Notre Dame fell behind 63-61 in the opening moments of overtime, but tied it on an Erin Pfau 17-footer and took its first lead since the third quarter when Sierra Ellis stole a pass in the Lancer backcourt and fed Millham for the basket with 2:10 left.

The Bulldogs led 67-65 with 1:34 left after another Millham basket, but Lutheran South (22-8) moved into the lead, 68-67, on three free throws. The latter two were by Sarah Shearman with :39 left.

McCauley tied it at 68 by hitting the front end of a 1-and-1 with 23 seconds left. She missed her second shot but Millham rebounded and fed McCauley for the basket with :18 left for a 70-68 lead.

Lutheran South's Cassie Calloton missed a 3-pointer with about :10 left and Notre Dame gained possession in a wild scramble and called timeout with :02 remaining.

McCauley was fouled after the inbounds and sanke two free throws to seal the victory.

"Nobody thought we were going to go to state in 4A and we did it and proved everybody wrong," McCauley said.

Lutheran South packed a powerful one-two punch with Julie McQueen and Karner, who finished with 24 and 20 points, respectively.

Notre Dame recovered from a 12-8 first quarter deficit to lead 26-24 at halftime.

Lutheran South hit four 3-pointers in the third period, including one by Calloton that gave the Lancers a 46-43 lead at the end of the quarter. Lutheran South led the entire period until McCauley's buzzer-beater.