Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

They called for a mop and bucket Friday night outside Polk County’s locker room, because postgame victory celebrations do often create quite a mess.

The most welcome, drenching, soaking surprise mess of Brandy Alm’s career.

Polk County outlasted Hendersonville 54-40 in an intense, physical Mountain Foothills 7 Conference Basketball Tournament final, topping the Bearcats to complete a sweep of the league’s regular-season and tourney trophies and continue to add to the legacy of an unparalleled season.

It seems that every Wolverine outing now comes with some new entry into the school’s record book, and Friday’s win was no exception. The hard-fought victory was the 13th straight for Polk, a program first. It moved Polk County’s season record to 22-1, a win shy of matching the school single-season mark. It earned Polk what is believed to be the program’s first conference tournament trophy since the 1999-2000 season.

“Just being part of this program from winning one game, winning two games one season to now, not losing in the conference, we’ve come so far,” Alm said, her hair just starting to dry following the impromptu postgame shower she received upon entering the locker room. “We have so many players in the past that have reached out, just in the past week, wishing us good luck.

“It’s fun watching these girls make adjustments throughout the game, and it’s fun watching them play together and play for each other. We’re coming together at the perfect moment, so I’m excited to see what the postseason brings.”

Hendersonville (20-6) tested Polk County unlike any opponent in the regular season, and the Bearcats certainly posed their share of problems again in the final.

After Polk raced to a 24-12 lead at the end of a high-octane first quarter, Hendersonville’s ball pressure began to disrupt the Polk offense, the Bearcats also upping the physicality of their play on the defensive end. The Wolverines scored on a Bailey Staton basket to open the second quarter and didn’t score again until the final 40 seconds, and that allowed Hendersonville to creep within 28-22 at the half.

Kylie Lewis and Kiera Littlejohn scored inside to open the third period and push the lead back to 10, but the Bearcats reeled off eight straight points and closed within 32-30 with 4:40 to go.

And then the momentum changed.

Staton was left alone on the wing and drilled a 3-pointer. Freshman Reeve Carroll came off the bench, took a pass and drilled another triple from the top of the key, then capped a fast break with a no-look pass to Mia Bradley for an easy layup and a 40-30 lead.

Following a Bearcat free throw, Bradley again scored before Jayden Duncan’s putback made it 44-31 at the end of the quarter.

That 14-1 run over the final four minutes not only tilted the game in Polk’s favor, it showcased the role that Carroll and Duncan played in the win. Carroll had six points, three assists and a lot of harassment of Hendersonville’s guards on the defensive end. Duncan had six points and two rebounds and provided a physical presence in the lane each time she was on the floor.

“Jayden came to play,” observed Polk athletic director Michelle Fagan early in the game, a point with which Alm agreed.

“Just the effort and the intensity that those two (Carroll and Duncan) bring to the table, you can’t teach that type of intensity and that type of hard-nosed play,” Alm said. “Reeve Carroll, you can’t teach what she brings, the quickness and the intensity in general.

“But the entire team, they’re competitors. They just want to win.”

Polk pushed its lead to 15 midway through the final period and never led by less than double digits in the fourth, that third-period surge basically settling the outcome.

Staton finished with 13 points, with Littlejohn proving unstoppable inside at times with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Lewis had 10 points and five rebounds, Bradley added five points and four assists while Charley Dusenbury finished with two points.

Polk County was set to play in the state 1A girls basketball playoffs on Tuesday at home against Piedmont Community Charter.

The Wolverines received the fourth seed in the 1A West bracket, as released Sunday by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. That gives Polk a first-round matchup with Piedmont, seeded 29th.