Officiating mistakes happen in every game.

Most times they are worthy of no more than a half-hearted complaint and are forgotten soon thereafter. When the mistake happens in the final minute of a one-point championship game, it is not so easily dismissed. The sense of having been wronged pervaded the Northampton side after Parkland won the District XI 6A girls basketball championship 30-29.

Mo Olenwine hit a three-pointer with 43 seconds left, which proved to be the final points of the game, and then the controversy started.

The K-Kids quickly inbounded the ball and passed it up court. However, the referee blew his whistle and the Parkland players strolled to their bench as if they had called timeout, which they could not do with Northampton in possession of the ball. There was also a potential technical foul for the Parkland coach being on the court.

After a lengthy and heated discussion, the ruling on the play was that there had been an inadvertent whistle and that Parkland had not called a timeout. Video clips posted to social media were inconclusive.

Northampton did have a pair of possessions after the dispute. A last-second shot from 24 feet out was off the rim, short and right.

While head coach Jeff Jacksits was upset with the call he put the loss in perspective.

“I’m tired of getting red ribbons,” he said. “19-2 and we let them get back in it.”

A Kylie Gilliard three with 3:50 left in the second quarter gave the Kids that 17-point lead, but Parkland scored the last 6 points of the half to cut it to 19-8.

Northampton appeared to have righted the ship when they scored the first four points of the second half. The Trojans scored the next 10 on the way to closing the gap to 27-20 after 3 quarters.

Taylor Kranzley’s bucket with 6:20 left in the game were the final points scored by the K-Kids. The score was stuck at 29-27 in the Kids’ favor from the 4:23 mark until Olenwine’s three.