AMHERST — Before coming to meet heavy favorite Sweet Home on Tuesday night, Niagara Falls girls basketball coach Sal Constantino insisted his team might be the best 2-16 team in the country.

For nearly three quarters, his Wolverines proved him right.

But behind a ferocious final quarter from Bianca Smiley, the host Panthers rallied just in time, edging Constantino’s 12th-seeded squad by a 59-49 count in a Class AA prequarterfinal that was tied in the final three minutes.

Latisha Simmons and Chamari Russell each had 13 points as the Wolverines had fifth-seeded Sweet Home shaking deep into the third quarter.

“Teams are going to expose us if we’re not dialed in every night. It showed (Tuesday),” Sweet Home coach Matt LaRoach said. “They gave us a heck of a scare.”

The host Panthers roared out of the gate, grabbing a 10-1 lead just over three minutes into the contest on Bianca Smiley’s offensive rebound and putback.

Constantino called a quick timeout to calm his troops down and the maneuver seemed to work. Russell hit a jumper on a pass from Lakea Crittenden, Khadijah Caldwell followed with a jumper from the corner and when Simmons added a baseline jumper, the Wolverines had pulled within 11-9.

“I just told them we have to settle down,” Constantino said of the timeout. “We came out, their bench was really loud and they came out aggressive. I told them you just have to play between the lines and not worry about everything else.”

Midway through the second quarter, the Falls turned up the defensive pressure and Sweet Home struggled to keep pace. Although Lameess Mehanna’s free throw put the hosts up 19-14, the Falls went on an 8-1 run keyed by two Simmons buckets. Crittenden’s fast break layup gave the Wolverines their first lead of the night.

“I really thought when we got up 10-1 we took the foot off a little. All of a sudden they get a couple second-chance shots and you look and it’s 12-9,” LaRoach said.

The Falls took a one-point lead into the break, then continued to make shots in the third quarter, led by Russell and Crittenden. The latter hit a layup with 15 seconds left in the quarter and the Wolverines had extended their lead to 41-35.

But that’s when Smiley went to work. The six-foot senior scored consecutive baskets to pull the Panthers with two points, then set some great screens to free open Rachel Ward on pick-and-rolls down the stretch.

“We talked solely about guarding her,” Constantino said of Smiley. “We just had no answer for her.”

Smiley finished with 25 of her team’s 59 points while Sabrina Bush added 10.

The Wolverines still held the edge at 48-47 with 2:54 to play, but Smiley and Jenaye Tyno hit shots down the stretch to pull away.

Still, Constantino thinks he had the talent to pull the upset.

“I honestly believed we could beat this team, he said. “We just have to learn that there’s tough physical plays that need to be made.”

Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.