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As a devoted fan of trivia contests, 14-year-old Samantha Reback put her knowledge to the ultimate test as a contestant in the "Jeopardy!" Teen Tournament.

Samantha, a sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, was a quarterfinalist on the popular TV game show, which invites students ages 13 to 17 to compete in the quiz-style contest that provides "answers" to questions and requires contestants to provide the "question."

She and 14 other competitors traveled to Los Angeles, where the show was taped in August. The tournament, which began airing Nov. 2, wrapped up Friday evening with Pittsburgh teenager Rachel Rothenberg as its champion. Samantha's episode was shown Nov. 3.

"I had a great time and was happy to be on ‘Jeopardy!,'" the Bethesda resident said. "I also had fun exploring Los Angeles and meeting all of these really cool people."

Samantha said she was one of about 10,000 teenagers who passed the online test to qualify for a chance to be on the show. Of those, 300 were asked to audition and 15 made it to the quarterfinals.

Samantha said she took the test for the teen tournament "on a whim" last winter.

"I thought it would just be something interesting to try," she said. "I like testing my knowledge."

Being a member of Richard Montgomery's Quizbowl team is one of her many school activities.

She found out in July that she had secured a spot on the show, but it was not until she was on the show's set that it all sank in.

"I was quite nervous," she said. "I was just trying to stay calm and focus on what was going on at the moment."

After answering questions about science, inventors, presidents and more, Samantha found herself in second place going into the final round. She gave the correct answer to the final question — or the correct question to the final answer — but her wager of $6,798, which was $2 shy of her total, was not enough to win the match.

Samantha stuck around the next day to see if her score of $13,598 would get her into the semifinals as a wild card pick, but she was not chosen. She returned home $5,000 richer.

She urges future teen contestants to not worry about the money or the pressure and just take pleasure in being on the show.

"Just try your hardest and have fun," she said. "It's a really great experience, so just enjoy it."

Shelley Reback, Samantha's mother, said she is proud of her daughter and admires how she played.

"So many people have commented about how poised and composed she seemed in such a pressure-filled situation," she said. "I can definitely say that she was much calmer up on the stage playing the game than we were in the audience watching."