It was Asberry to the rescue.

Demaya Asberry scored a season-high 25 points and made plays Cousino needed after Warren Woods-Tower rallied in the second half to lead the Patriots to a 53-39 victory in a Division 1 district basketball championship game at Lakeview on Friday night.

A four-year varsity player, Asberry ran the offense, made shots and sparked the defense as Cousino won a district title for the first time since 2019.

“We had no answer for her tonight,” Warren Woods-Tower coach Phil Bowen said.

Charlotte Martin added 13 points for Cousino (14-10), which plays Royal Oak in a regional semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Lakeview. That will be a rematch of a district final won by the Ravens on the Patriots’ floor last season.

“The girls are already talking about it,” Cousino coach Amy Mitchell said.

Asberry gave an enthusiastic crowd at Lakeview’s tight gym plenty to talk about as the left-handed shooter scored 14 points in the first half and 11 in the second.

No part of Asberry’s game was more crucial to the Patriots than her play after Warren Woods-Tower went on an 11—0 run that sliced a 36-21 deficit to 36-32 with 3:16 left in the third quarter.

Asberry assisted on a basket by Martin; made two free throws and a field goal; drew the fourth fouls against two players and took a rebound as the Patriots extended a four-point lead to 48-36 by the time the fourth quarter was two minutes old.

“We had to regroup,” Asberry said, recalling the WWT rally that included five points by Layla Unger.

“The girls kept their cool, and of course Demaya took over,” Mitchell said.

“We expected them to make a run; they were playing good basketball, unselfish basketball, down the stretch this season,” Mitchell added. “But when you have a player like Demaya, you expect her to respond.”

Martin made a basket for a 50-36 lead with 5:29 to play, and the junior post player’s final hoop of the game closed the scoring.

Meanwhile, Asberry had three rebounds and made a free throw in the final five minutes as Cousino put the game away.

Priscilla Lee’s 3-pointer accounted for all of Warren Woods-Tower’s scoring in the fourth quarter.

Tazaria Hill led the Titans (13-10) with 15 points. Gabriella Lewis added 10.

Bowen was pleased with the Macomb Area Conference Silver Division Titans’ stay in the district, which included a first-round victory over Lake Shore and an upset triumph in the semifinals over MAC Gold champion Roseville.

“We haven’t been this far in the tournament in a long time,” Bowen said. “It was awesome. To get to the championship game and beat a one-loss Gold champion — that’s going to help us this summer and into next season.”

Cousino finished second to Anchor Bay in the MAC White.

Asberry said the Patriots were determined to play well in the district after what she called an “inconsistent” regular season.

“This was long overdue,” she said.

Asberry, who scored 18 points in the Patriots’ semifinal victory over Lakeview, sank two 3-pointers midway through the second quarter for a 26-8 lead over WWT.

“I’m proud of my outside shot,” Asberry said. “I was very weak in that area during the first three seasons of my career, but I got better. There was a lot of AAU ball and getting in the gym.”

Asberry scored Cousino’s first five points of the third quarter for a 35-19 lead.

“Demaya was focused, locked in tonight,” Mitchell said. “She played really smart.”

Mitchell said she was “really proud” of the Patriots.

“They’ve been super-coachable all season and they’ve accepted hard coaching,” she said. “They bought into playing team defense. That’s what carried us tonight — defense and Demaya.”

Royal Oak advanced with a 42-35 victory over Berkley.

Dakota plays Ford in the other regional semifinal at Lakeview.