Susan O’Shields of Hendersonville won a race against time Thursday when she claimed a $100,000 Powerball prize just five hours before it expired.

O’Shields’ husband bought the ticket for the Dec. 5 drawing, but put it on a dresser and never checked the results.

“I ended up moving it and putting it in a Ziploc bag,” O’Shields said.

That’s where the $100,000 ticket would be now, if word had not gotten out about the unclaimed prize.

As the 180-day deadline neared, the lottery went back to where the lucky ticket was purchased, Mountain Energy on Airport Road in Arden, and asked the store to hang a banner reminding folks of the deadline. Then, a week ago, the lottery issued a media release to the Asheville media, asking for helping in finding the lucky winner.

O’Shields said her husband heard about the unclaimed prize from a friend who had seen the story about it on WLOS of Asheville. She and her husband got out their tickets and discovered they had the lucky ticket on Tuesday night.

It took O’Shields awhile to realize they won. “My husband kept showing me the ticket, but I didn’t know what the numbers meant,” O’Shields said.

Once she realized she couldn’t believe it. “I’m still in shock,” O’Shields said. “I feel like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

O’Shields claimed the prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, she received $69,250. She plans to use some of the money to pay bills.

The O’Shields won with a $3 Power Play ticket. Their numbers matched four white balls and the Powerball to win $50,000. The prize doubled when the 2X multiplier was drawn for Power Play tickets.

Ticket sales from games like Powerball made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars for the state last year. For details on how over $32.1 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Henderson County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” section of the lottery’s website.