Casey never led in Game 1 of the match but did rise up to overtake the Lady Patriots in Game 2, easing on top 19-18.
The lead change prompted Massey to call in her team.
"I called a timeout right when they went up because I knew we needed to maintain, regain control of the situation," Massey said.
"And they did. They took the timeout to regroup and they came back out and functioned as a team."
Lincoln came back out of the timeout to win sideout and put the game in a 19-all tie. Casey and Lincoln would trade sideouts a couple times each before Marissa Crank stepped up to serve for Lincoln. Crank came up, for only her second service of the game, when Lincoln earned sideout 22-21. Crank would not be replaced behind the line, serving out the final three points to help Lincoln earn the district title.
Massey and her assistant coach Jeff Wesley maintained their positions on the sidelines, trying to settle the Lady Patriots down throughout the title match. On the court, it was Lincoln's seniors Alissa Ellis and Lynsey Robbins taking the lead, especially in the final game when Casey challenged.
"We just knew we had to calm everybody down. We knew that we could win the match. We just had to make sure we kept playing together," Ellis said.
"Oh, I'm so excited," said Robbins, still trying to take in the moment. "I was getting excited myself out there. It was hard to keep calm but we knew that, as the seniors, that it was our job to lead the team."
Massey said she was extremely proud of the way the seniors stepped up in such a high pressure situation.
"Both our seniors, Alissa and Lynsey, really rose to the occasion," she said. "They were really good captains and they helped guide the girls tonight."
"They've both been in high pressure situations like this before but we had new players that hadn't been in that situation," Massey said. "A lot of the new players followed the seniors and that helped them. They handled the situation well."
The first-year Lincoln coach went freely to her bench throughout the championship match, constantly rotating players in and out of the game.
"Rotating them in like that helps us use each of their individual assets well," Massey said. "The girls have progressed a lot in the season. It's been nice to have enough of a bench to do that, rotate them."
"They played a big role tonight," she said.
Wesley said that the team's growth from the preseason to the tournament enables the coaches to makes changes without the fear of losing a competitive edge.
"They (newer, less experienced players) have progressed a lot and made the game situation more comfortable," he said. "We don't have to rely on just a few to be on the floor all the time. Because they have made a lot of progress, we can use more players."
Massey said that growth in the team's play has developed from simply playing the game.
"As the season progressed and they learned to handle high pressure situations, they got more confident. As they got more confident, they started to play better and work together better as a team," she said. "They've been progressing all year. I feel that every game to get to this point was to build us to where we could rise to this occasion right now."
Lincoln, which had three players named to the all-tournament team, Ellis, Robbins and Morgan Brown, will continue its season next week in London as the Lady Patriots do battle in the regional tournament.
Just how Lincoln will fare in the regional is an unknown. What is known is that the Lady Patriots are winners no matter the outcome.
"We're excited," concurred Ellis and Robbins. "We're the district champions."
"This is something we've been working toward all season," Robbins said. "We knew that we wanted to win the district. That was the plan from the start."
"We've won the district, now we are looking forward to the regionals," she said.
Ellis is already contemplating a potential opponent, setting her sites on scanning the internet when she returned home from the game.
"I want to know what everybody else did and who we might play," she said. "I'm excited."
The excitement was not limited to the Lady Patriot players with Massey joining in on the celebration.
"This is my first coaching experience and it has been exciting for me," she said.
"Extremely exciting. At the first practice, I told the girls that my goal was to win district. And now we have."
"They've grown so much as a team. They play together well,to function as a team. I'm really proud."
