Freshman Annabel Sheldon scored eight of her game-high 12 points in the fourth quarter and Sheffield outscored Austin 13-5 over the final eight minutes en route to a 35-28 win over the Lady Panthers.

“We haven’t had a winning streak since … I don’ know. Years before me, I know that,” said Sheffield coach Brandon Troutman.”

It’s been almost six years, to be exact, with back-to-back wins over Smethport and Ridgway in January of 2013.

Now, this group of young Lady Wolverines (2-1) has something to hang its hat on.

Sheffield’s Emily Leichtenberger (left) and Austin’s Taylor Brewer battle for the opening tip during their game on Tuesday.

Trailing by 1, 23-22 going into the fourth quarter, Sheldon poured in six consecutive points on a pair of jumpers 40 seconds apart and a layup which was the by-product of an offensive rebound by Alyssa Dunham with 3:35 to play that gave Sheffield a 28-26 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“She’s playing well,” Troutman said of Sheldon. “She’s got a knack for getting to the rim, which is huge. She’s not afraid to go out there and strap up. She’s made some young mistakes, but she’ll learn from those and she really gave us a spark.”

Coupled with Sheldon’s hot fourth-quarter shooting, Sheffield forced 10 Austin turnovers in the fourth quarter, most of which came out of their press.

“Early on, it wasn’t (working),” Troutman said. “But in the fourth quarter, they (Austin) weren’t quite as calm and we were a little more calm. Not that we ran it well, but it was effective in the sense that we got them to get a little crazy with the ball at times.”

Austin was forced to send Sheffield to the line down the stretch, and Marissa Grubbs and Rosemary Nelson each sank both of their attempts inside of three minutes to help put the game away.

Sheffield’s Marissa Grubbs fires a pass to a teammate.

It was a game that was back-and-forth throughout, with Sheffield’s 7-point margin of victory the most either team led by.

Emily Leichtenberger had a steal that led to a layup less than 20 seconds in, but Austin rattled off the next 6 points.

Back-to-back buckets by Sheldon tied it up at 6-6, and another layup by Leichtenberger made it 10-8 Lady Wolverines after the first quarter.

An offensive putback by Allison Schmader and a free throw by Schmader put Sheffield up 3, but Austin’s Taylor Brewer, who led her team with 9 points, sunk a pair of free throws with 3.5 seconds left on the first half clock to make it a 1-point game, 16-15.

“We’re going to make a lot of young mistakes,” Troutman said. “We’ve done it in our first 3 games. We had enough left in the tank to overcome them the last two games. I give the kids a lot of credit for fighting through adversity.”

Sheffield’s Allison Schmader gets set to shoot a free throw.

Neither team led by more than 2 in the third quarter, with Julia Lattimore’s free throws with 10 seconds left in the period giving Austin a 23-22 lead going in the fourth.

That’s when Sheffield made it’s run.