ELMHURST - For every tear-stained cheek on Thursday, there was a corresponding sweat-stained jersey that said "Mooseheart" on the front.

For every slumped athlete on the bench in the final seconds of Immaculate Conception's 52-36 Regional championship victory - there was a Red Ramblers athlete who gave 100 percent in her team's attempt to win.

And to an athlete, there was acknowledgement that the program had taken another step forward in 2007-08, even though the loss to the regional hosts certainly tempered those thoughts.

"We were ready to play," Mooseheart freshman Katie Stryker said. "We wanted to play so badly. But toward the third quarter, we slowed down a little bit and we had to catch up."

As they had throughout the season, the final word after every timeout was "Believe!" And the Ramblers never stopped trying to come back, which helped key a late fourth quarter comeback, which ultimately fell short.

"Our team word was 'Believe'" Mooseheart girls basketball coach Bryan Miller said. "You definitely saw that in the first two quarters. We found a lot of belief and confidence in ourselves."

Mooseheart (11-13) led 18-17 at halftime after trailing 13-6 after the first quarter. A solid zone defense and timely offense keyed the turnaround. Also key was the offense of Basheeba Mays, who scored eight of her 11 points in the first half.

"Those first two quarters of basketball of basketball you saw right there were the best two quarters we played all year," Miller said. And when Katie Stryker hit a pair of free throws with 2:30 left, the Ramblers had the points that took them into the halftime locker room with the lead.

Stryker finished the game with a team-high 14 points.

"We won a regional and that's a good thing," Stryker said. "Next year, we want to go all the way to sectionals."

Immaculate Conception (11-18) quickly turned around the game at the start of the third quarter. Erin Dunne converted a three-point play 54 seconds into the half and the Knights never trailed again. As it reversed the scoreline, Immaculate Conception exploited seams in Mooseheart's zone.

"We have a lot of kids who haven't been in this situation before,"

Immaculate Conception coach Dan Murray said. "We just weren't making our reads in what we were looking for in the first half. We talked at halftime about slowing down and calming down. We got them relaxed, which was the biggest thing."

Among those impressed by the Ramblers effort was Murray .

"Give them credit," Murray said. "They played extremely hard. They hit a couple of huge three's from way downtown. They crashed the glass like crazy.

And they gave an all-out effort."

In her final game for the Ramblers, senior Ruthfee Kollie scored three points for the Ramblers.

"I know they can do it next year and get through regionals and go to sectional." Kollie said. "I'm just going to miss all of them."

Immaculate Conception's Mary Kate Manion led all scorers with 20 points.

Erin Hayes added 19 points for the Knights.