By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

EVANSVILLE, Indiana — Mia Nicastro has had ankle sprains before, but she knew the one she suffered in the fourth quarter in Saturday’s Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game was bad.

It didn’t help that the Ford Center turned completely silent as Nicastro was twisting in pain on the floor.

It also didn’t help that Nicastro looked up into the Western Illinois section and saw the reactions of the fans and her family.

“Everyone had just had their hands on their heads,” the Leathernecks’ senior forward said. “Looked like they just saw a ghost. And, I mean, obviously I was upset. I was angry that it had happened. I was in a lot of pain.”

Eight minutes and 32 seconds remained in the game, the Leathernecks were clinging to a six-point lead, and there was Nicastro, one of the nation’s leading scorers and the OVC player of the year, having to be helped from the court.

But less than two minutes had gone off the clock before Nicastro, ankle taped, ran past coach JD Gravina and checked back into the game.

And when the Leathernecks made their final run, Nicastro scored eight of her team’s last 10 points to secure the 71-65 win over Lindenwood, the tournament title, and the program’s third bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Nicastro finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, back-to-back double-doubles for the No. 1 seed Leathernecks, who needed everything from her in Friday’s 74-66 comeback win over Southeast Missouri State and needed her in the closing minutes of this game to put away the rallying Lions.

“I hate being cliché,” Gravina said. “But it was heroic.”

“That was an awesome moment,” guard Addi Brownfield said. “We thought we were going to have to pick up the slack with her out, and she comes back in and the crowd just erupts.”

Nicastro, fourth in NCAA Division I play in scoring at 24.6 points per game, said her ankle had twisted inward as she came down from trying to get a rebound.

As she was helped from the court, Nicastro told Gravina she was going to play, but she saw the look on his face that he didn’t quite believe her.

“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to keep playing, but I kind of stood up, and I think the adrenaline helped a little bit,” Nicastro said. “I just got a ton of tape on there, put some Biofreeze on it, popped some Tylenol. And then I went to JD and said, ‘I’m going to finish this game.’ I wasn’t going to sit on the bench, watching my team, knowing they needed me and not being out there for them.

“So, suck it up.”

Gravina said she didn’t ask his permission to go back in the game.

“All of the sudden I hear the crowd erupt,” Gravina said. “And by the time I turned in look, she had already run past me to go check in.”

Gravina didn’t mind.

“It was just such a good emotional moment for our entire team,” he said. “And I think it helped calm us, because I looked into those players’ eyes when Mia went down, I felt confidence out of all of them if she was unable to come back. I believe in those players. But then when she came back, it just kind of lifted everyone, and it kind of gave us that extra push.”

Brownfield thought back to earlier in the season, when two-time All-OVC first-teamer Raegan McCowan went out with an elbow injury in late December that would cost her the rest of the season.

“It was kind of like PTSD from that,” she said.

So, to see Nicastro come back?

“It was like, ‘OK, we got this one,’” Brownfield said.

Nicastro’s first field goal after her return came at the 3:05 mark and gave the Leathernecks a 63-58 lead. She then hit six free throws in the final 1:13, the last two with 20 seconds left that provided the final margin.

An hour after the post-game celebration, Nicastro said she could feel her ankle swelling, and the pain returning.

“It will be painful tomorrow, but I don’t care,” she said, smiling. “We won.”

Photo: Western Illinois’ Mia Nicastro celebrates after placing the Leathernecks’ logo sticker on the OVC tournament bracket. (Ohio Valley Conference)