True, athletes must have short memories to succeed. But memories die hard when an athlete has a chance to atone for past disappointments.

So with the Tremper girls basketball team holding a two-point lead on Janesvile Craig and 7.5 seconds remaining Tuesday in a WIAA Division-1 regional semifinal at Tremper, Trojans’ senior forward Rachel Jones was thinking of last season when she stepped to the free-throw line for a critical 1-and-1.

Last year, Tremper’s season ended at the hands of Craig in a regional semifinal. This time around, Jones calmly sank both free throws to seal the eighth-seeded Trojans’ 38-34 victory and send them to the regional finals.

“I’ve gotta sink it,” said Jones when asked what she was thinking of when she stepped to the line. “Revenge from last year. We’re not ready to be done.”

There was no player Tremper coach Rod Gross wanted at the line more in that situation than Jones, who missed nine games this season due to injury but led Tremper’s gritty effort Tuesday with 15 points and six rebounds.

“That’s who we want on the line,” Gross said. “She’s come back, and she’s just been outstanding.”

The Trojans (10-13) now face a huge challenge in heading to top-seeded Verona, ranked sixth in the latest AP Division-1 state poll, for a regional final at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Tremper’s run nearly ended on Tuesday as the ninth-seeded Cougars (8-15) raced out to a 15-5 lead after one quarter. Craig repeatedly dumped passes inside to Anne Morgan in its high-low offense, but Tremper eventually clamped down by collapsing the post and pressuring Craig’s guards on the perimeter to make entry passes nearly impossible.

As a result, Morgan scored only six of her team-high 14 points after the first quarter as Craig was held to a meager 10 second-half points.

“That’s what our program is about,” Gross said. “We take pride on the defensive end, and this is how we win games, scoring 38 points.”

Tremper slowly crept up on Craig’s lead and went ahead for good on back-to-back buckets by senior center Caitlyn Richter, who was every bit the force Jones was with 15 points and five boards, that gave the Trojans a 31-29 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Both teams struggled to score down the stretch, but Jones battled for a loose ball after Craig’s Whitney Oliver missed a tough runner with 10.2 seconds left and called a timeout before sinking the game-clinching free throws.