Megan Geiger had one thought on her mind while she and her Greenwich High School girls varsity basketball teammates moved the ball up the court in the final tense seconds of play against Fairfield Warde on Wednesday night.

“The only thing in my head was “get the ball up,” Geiger said following what was indeed, a memorable game for the Cardinals.

With just a few seconds remaining and the Cardinals trailing by two points, Geiger knew she didn’t have much time if she got the ball and had to get it up to the basket.

Well, she did, taking a shot Greenwich won’t soon forget.

Geiger’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Greenwich a thrilling 42-41 comeback win over visiting Fairfield Warde in an FCIAC game – a matchup that saw the Cardinals erase an 18-point second-half deficit.

On the game winning shot/sequence, Greenwich trailed Fairfield Warde, 41-39, with less than 10 seconds remaining. After a Mustangs missed foul shot, Greenwich got the rebound, the ball was passed to Geiger, who dribbled down the right side of the court. She passed the ball to teammate Julia Monteiro at halfcourt. Monteiro sent a pass to Riana Xhekaj, who quickly made a touch pass to Geiger, who took a 3-pointer from the right wing from more than 20 feet away. Her shot hit the backboard and went through the hoop as the buzzer sounded ending the game, giving the Cardinals a dramatic one-point victory.

“It’s awesome to bring that home for the team, I’m so excited, I’m shaking,” said Geiger, a senior guard/tri-captain. “I just wanted to get the ball up, I didn’t know how much time was left on the clock. I knew it was coming down to the wire. Julia passed me the ball. People were collapsing, the only thing in my head was “get that ball up.”

Immediately after Geiger’s shot fell through the basket, the Cardinals celebrated their home triumph against a formidable Fairfield Warde team.

“I don’t think in any sports the feeling of a shot going in as a buzzer beater beats that feeling,” Greenwich coach Megan Wax said. “It’s awesome, Megan stepped up when we needed her the most, it’s exhilarating.”

Coached by David Danko, the Mustangs (3-2) led most of the way in this early-season FCIAC matchup. Warde held a 13-9 lead after the first quarter, entered halftime with a 26-13 advantage and went into the fourth quarter ahead, 34-27. The Mustangs’ biggest lead was 31-13 early in the third quarter.

“That’s a testament to our dedication,” Geiger said of the Cards’ comeback. “We pulled it together in the locker room at halftime and I think we played well. We kept to our fundamentals and pulled through.”

Said forward/senior tri-captain Riana Xhekaj: “Our bench and especially our fans sparked up our energy. Our defense got a lot better throughout the game – the third and fourth quarter was great – and of course we ended it up with Megan’s great shot.”

The win with no time remaining improved Greenwich’s record to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the FCIAC. As has been the case so far this season, the Cardinals received a balanced scoring effort.

Sophomore guard Juliette Pelham scored a team-high nine points, while Xhekaj and junior forward Kate Baxendale added six points apiece for the Cardinals. Geiger had five points, including her game-winning 3-pointer, junior guard Alyssa Gath scored five points and sophomore guard Madi Utzinger also posted five points in the winning effort.

Senior forward/center Julia Monteiro and senior point guard Ayanna Davenport had three points apiece for GHS, which is 3-0 at home. Davenport suffered an injury to her right knee with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter and was sidelined the rest of the game. She was attended to by Greenwich athletic trainer Pete Falla. Davenport had a brace on her leg at the game’s conclusion.

Warde was powered by a 24-point performance from Ryanne Gulbin, who scored 14 points during the second half. Senior guard Emily Carley added seven points for the Mustangs, who had a strong first half, then continued their stellar play in the third quarter, building an 18-point lead.

“They’re an outstanding team, they have great shooters, they’re bigs are really good inside,” Wax said of Warde. “We were focused on denying them the looks they wanted and had active hands.”

A 3-pointer by Gulbin gave the Mustangs a 29-13 advantage, which they increased to 31-13 with another basket midway through the third quarter. Then Greenwich began its run.

Xkekaj made a basket off an inbounds pass, Baxendale converted a layup off a Geiger pass, then scored again from close in off another inbounds pass, cutting Warde’s lead to 32-19 with just over three minutes to go in the third quarter.

Utzinger swished a 3-pointer from the left side and Monteiro banked in a layup while being fouled. She made the ensuing free throw, bringing GHS to within 34-27 to end third quarter.

“It started at the end of the third quarter with a sudden burst of energy,” Monteiro said. “Everything started clicking. Alyssa came off the bench and had two 3s and we had a lot of good passes. That energy launched us into coming back.”

Gath made a 3-point shot 30 seconds into the final quarter, cutting Warde’s edge to 34-30. A 3-pointer from the right side by Gulbin put the Mustangs ahead, 37-30, at the 6:40 mark of the third quarter, but Greenwich scored seven straight points to knot the score.

Pelham scored on a 3-pointer off an out-of-bounds play, Utzinger hit a runner in the lane, then made another basket off a pass from Monteiro, making it 37-37.

Baskets from Carley and Gulbin gave the visitors a 41-37 edge, but a pair of clutch foul shots from Pelham with just 57.1 seconds left to play brought Greenwich to within 41-39.

Soon, Geiger banked home her memorable 3-point shot and the Cardinals had their exciting comeback win.

“Eighteen points – we’ve had large deficits before, but I don’t know if we’ve won by that big of a deficit,” Monteiro noted.

“It turned out being good, it wasn’t our plan from the beginning clearly, which is fine, because stuff doesn’t always goes it is supposed to,” Xhekaj said of the Cards needing to stage a spirited come-from-behind victory.

Both squads played effective defense. The Mustangs played mostly man-to-man and added full-court pressure. Greenwich also played a man-to-man defense most of the time and increased their defensive performance as the matchup progressed.

“The girls did a great job of that and caused a lot of turnovers,” Wax noted. “The girls work really well together, they want to learn, they’re ready every single day to play as a team.”

“We picked it up, our defense looked good at the end,” Geiger said. “We made sure they didn’t get any shots up and we pulled it together.”

Through its first six games, Greenwich has been ignited by its depth, receiving fine efforts from everyone who has played.

“We always make sure when you’re number is called you are ready to go,” Wax said. “All of our girls off the bench today knew their assignment and executed.”

Xhekaj and Monteiro led the way in the rebounding department. The duo faced a tough task against Warde’s solid front court, which features junior Juliana Krasniqui and Peyton McIntosh.

“It was definitely tough, they were a lot bigger than us and we had to figure out a way to work around that,” Xhekaj noted. “It was definitely a tough team. In the team room, we talked about it how they were a much bigger team and we had to work our way around it.”

Monteiro was pleased with how the team found their rhythm on offense in the second half.

“I think a lot of it resulted from good feeds from the guards looking to the open post into the middle,” she said. “That was the key to breaking their defense – getting it to the middle, looking opposite.”

Greenwich is back in action Friday on the road against FCIAC foe Brien McMahon at 7 p.m. Warde visits Wilton on Friday at 7 p.m.

“We’re doing a good job of getting there as a team,” Wax said. “I’m really proud of how we answered today.”