Defending champion Assumption (26-2) will play for its second straight State title with a 61-41 victory over Heritage Christian (20-5) in their Division 5 matchup Thursday at the Resch Center in Green Bay.

The Royals extended two-point advantage at the end of the first quarter to a 35-22 halftime lead by outscoring the Lady Patriots 21-10 in the second quarter. The Royals shot 56 percent in the first half while holding the Lady Patriots to 31 percent.

Heritage Christian cut into the deficit to get within nine points in the third quarter, but the Royals put to rest any chance of a comeback with an 8-0 spurt in the fourth quarter to increase their lead to 20 points in the last minute.

Brittney Birkhauser led the Royals with 12 points and Gena Grundfoffer added 11. The Lady Patriots were led by Ramiyah Bennett with 21 points, and Marian Bautista grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.

Last year’s runner-up Barneveld (27-0) returns to the title game following a  71-53 win over Owen-Withee in Thursday afternoon’s second Division 5 semifinal.

The Golden Eagles never trailed in the game, building a 20-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter. They possessed their largest lead of the half with a bucket with under a minute to play in the half to enjoy a 33-17 lead at intermission.

The Golden Eagles never allowed the Blackhawks to get back in the game throughout the second half.  They led by as many as 28 points at 65-37 with 5:13 to play in the game. Owen-Withee scored the game’s final 18 points to account for the final margin.

Hannah Whitish led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 19 points. Rachel Slaney and McKenzie Sporle chipped in 15 and 10 points, respectively. Stephany Heggemeier led all scorers with 21 points to pace the Blackhawks, and Bailey Karaba and Hayley Bunnell added 17 and 13 points, respectively.

The title game will feature a rematch of last year’s championship game in Division 5. Assumption won that match-up, 39-35.