The 38th Annual Girls State Basketball Tournaments resumes Friday with semifinals in Divisions 3, 2 and 1 at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wis.
DIVISION 1
Milwaukee Riverside 69, Superior 55
Milwaukee Riverside (23-4) advances to the title game Saturday following a 69-55 win over Superior (23-4) in the second Division 1 semifinal game Friday evening.
The Lady Tigers led throughout first quarter after scoring the first six points of the game. Trailing 13-11 to start the second quarter, the Spartans took a couple short-lived leads before the Lady Tigers went on a nine-point run to take a 28-19 lead with 4:15 left in the half. They extended their lead to 14 at 41-27 by scoring the final four points of the period.
Milwaukee Riverside maintained its double-digit advantage throughout the third quarter and entered the fourth period on top 55-37. The closest the Spartans would get in the final quarter was 14 points with 5:39 left in the game and then again at the final horn.
Amani Wilborn and Breanna Lewis led the Lady Tigers with 20 points apiece, and Lewis contributed 15 rebounds and six blocks. The Spartans were led in scoring by Hailey Kontny with 20 points, and Jessica Lindstrom scored 19 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.
Mukwonago 64, Arrowhead 44
Mukwonago (25-2) accelerated out of the starting gate, jumping out to a 26-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and cruise to a convincing 64-44 over Arrowhead (18-9) in the semifinal Friday evening.
The Indians went on a 13-2 run midway through the first quarter to take control of the game. Mukwonago extended its lead in the second quarter and led 38-15 at halftime. Bre Cera ignited the Indians offense with 13 points in the half, including nine coming on 3-pointers.
Mukwonago upped its lead to 26 at 53-27 by the end of the third quarter and to 29 on two different possessions in the fourth period. Arrowhead could get no closer than 17 the remainder of the game.
The Indians shot a blistering 57percent from the floor in the game and were led by Tuttle with 20 points while Cera added 15. Kelly Smith led the Warhawks with 14 points, and Ally May chipped in with 11.
Milwaukee Riverside will take on Mukwonago for the Division 1 championship at 8:15 p.m. Saturday
DIVISION 2
New Berlin Eisenhower 48, New London 47
New Berlin Eisenhower (25-2) ended the run of two-time defending champion New London (26-1) with a thrilling 48-47 victory in a rematch of the teams that met in last year’s State final.
Erin Ganzke made a lay-up, was fouled, and converted a free throw with seven seconds remaining to give the Lions the one-point advantage. A last-second attempt by the Bulldogs off an in-bounds play caromed off to end the game.
The Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run in the first period to gain the early advantage and led 14-7 at the end of the quarter. New London added to its lead in the second quarter and led by 15 at the 5:50 mark. The Lions battled back with a 13-0 run to end the half and go into the locker room trailing 21-19.
Both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket early in the second half. New Berlin Eisenhower scored the first four points of to take a 23-21 lead. Neither team took control of the game in the third quarter with no lead greater than two points. That trend continued throughout the fourth period as the lead went back-and-forth. The lead changed hands 11 times in the game with an additional 10 ties.
Jenny Weiland led the Lions with 17 points and Ganzke added 16. New London was led by Brenna Heise with 19 points.
Notre Dame 61, Milton 35
Notre Dame (21-6) used a strong first half to build an insurmountable lead and move into the championship final with 61-35 win over Milton (19-8).
Already leading at the end of the first period 17-7, the Tritons dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Red Hawks 19-2 in the period to lead 36-9 at the half. The Triton defense held the Red Hawks to 2-of-21 shooting in the half and forced eight turnovers.
The Tritons continued to impose its will in the second half, building a 34-point cushion in the third quarter and as much as a 39-point advantage in the fourth quarter before the Red Hawks closed the gap when the result was no longer in doubt.
The Tritons’ balanced scoring attack was led by Allison LeClaire with 14 points. Eliza Campbell and Brianna Byrne chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Milton was led by Elizabeth Westrick’s 16. points.
Notre Dame and New Berlin Eisenhower will play in the Division 2 final Saturday at 6:35 p.m.
DIVISION 3
East Troy 68, Neillsville 56
East Troy (26-1) defeated 2013 Division 4 champion Neillsville (26-1) 68-56 in the Division 3 semifinal Friday morning, snapping the 54-game winning streak of the Warriors.
Jennifer Lindner scored 22 of her game-high 26 points in the first half, including 12-of-13 from the free throw line, to pace the Warriors to a 32-28 halftime advantage. The first half featured 10 lead changes and four ties. Linden
The Warriors went up by six points to start the second half, but the Trojans surged back with an 11-0 to take a five-point lead with 3:55 to play in the third periods thanks to fine perimeter shooting. East Troy hit five of their record-setting 11 3-pointers in the third period led by Breanna Gaspervich and Rachel Atchison.
East Troy led by as many as 12 in the fourth quarter before the Warriors closed the gap to six at 59-53 with 3:13 left to play, but that’s as close as they would get.
Gaspervich and Atchinson led the Trojans 25 and 19 points, respectively. The duo combined to make 10-of-20 shots from beyond the arc.
Kewaunee 40, Lodi 27
Defending champion Kewaunee (26-1) goes for its second straight championship following a 40-27 win over Lodi (24-3) in the Division 3 semifinal action.
Kewaunee scored the game’s first five points and led the entire half, creating 11 turnovers off eight steals. The Storm built its largest lead of the half with 1:23 remaining in the second quarter, but a 3-pointer by Lodi’s Kiana Granath at the buzzer narrowed the Blue Devils’ halftime deficit to 20-14.
Kewaunee came out of the locker room to score the first four points of the second half to open a double-digit lead at 24-14. The Blue Devils got to within five with just over six minutes to play, but Kelsey Stangel hit a 3-pointer and a transition lay-up to boost the Storm lead back to 10 at 31-21 with under six minutes to play. Lodi could get no closer than eight points the rest of way.
The Storm was led by Stangel with 17 points and Alex Richard with 14. The Blue Devils struggled shooting the ball, connecting on just 29 percent of its shot. They were led in scoring by Gretchen Schultz with seven points.
Kewaunee and East Troy will square off in the Division 3 title game Saturday at 2:30 p.m.