ALLEN, Texas -- Former Houston Rockets' coach Rudy Tomjanovic put it succinctly when he said to never underestimate the heart of a champion.

He could have just as easily have been talking about this year's version of the Midwestern State Mustangs.

Noel Johnson's bunch put it all on the line in another epic battle with No. 5-ranked West Texas A&M before falling to the Lady Buffs 86-85 in overtime Friday night in the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament semifinals at the Allen Event Center.

"This was a game that was going to come down to how you executed down the stretch and down to a rebound," Johnson said.

After battling to double overtime in the 2013 championship game, the teams exchanged the 19 times and the game was tied on 12 other occasions as the Mustangs and Lady Buffs extended the fight into overtime.

MSU junior forward Andrea Carter poured in a career-high 29 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to nearly offset a monster performance from WT forward Chontiquah White, who scored a game game-high 32 points to go along with 11 rebounds.

"Andrea is such a dynamic player. She has such a knack to create as a forward and with the guard skills she has," Johnson said. "She was one of the reasons why we continued to grind away at West Texas."

West Texas A&M raced out to an 18-8 lead before the Mustangs came storming back to take a brief lead in the first half as the teams steadily exchanged the lead in the second half.

The Mustangs received a great performance by sophomore guard Nicole Smallwood,w ho connected on three 3-pointers to finish with 11 points, while Shatoia Gober controlled the mid-range area to score 13 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists.

Senior guard Kirsti Degelia knocked in two treys to finish with 11 points before fouling out in 39 minutes.

"It was a great game. Both teams fought hard," Degelia said. "It was devastating at the end because we played as hard as we could and tried our best. I couldn't be more proud of how hard this team fought."

The Mustangs appeared to grasp the postseason magic against when Dianna Jones forced a turnover and raced in for the tying layup with 18 seconds to go to force the extra period.

The teams experienced four more lead changes in the overtime period before Gober cut the lead to one with 36 seconds to play.

MSU elected to defend making the stop, but it only left 3.9 seconds for a final play. Gober's runner from 30-feet out was on line, but missed long.

"I'm really proud of our team and how we came together," Carter, "We went through some adversity and came up a little short."

The Mustangs (18-11) await selection for the NCAA Division II Postseason. The selection show is set for 9 p.m. Sunday night on NCAA.com.