Notre Dame Academy is back in the WIAA State Division 2 Championship game after beating Menomonie 64-45 this afternoon at the Resch Center. It won’t be a repeat of last year’s title game however as Pewaukee rolled past last year’s runner-up and undefeated Reedsburg Area 73-43 in the second semifinal.
The Tritons picked up their 27th straight victory by wearing down Menomonie in their first state tournament appearance over the final 7 minutes of the game. Notre Dame led just 35-30 at the break and Mary Berg’s back to back 3’s brought Menomonie within 41-39 but the Tritons took control behind Hope Barrington who led with 13 points, Trista Fayta with 12 and despite foul trouble, Gracie Grzesk had another dozen. Notre Dame’s full court defense produced 18 turnovers and 8 steals. Berg led Menomonie (25-4) with 12. The Tritons (28-1) will look to become back to back champions for the second time since 2013-2014.
Pewaukee took down Reedsburg by finishing the first half on a 9-0 run to lead 34-25 at intermission and then strolled to the free throw line. The Pirates attempted just one free throw in the first half but went 19 for 27 from the stripe in the second. Selective on shots from the floor, they made 53.3% on the game with Amy Terrian doing most of the finishing with 31 points hitting 9 of 15, 3 of 6 from 3 and 10 of 11 from the line. The Beavers got 17 from Sydney Cherney but as a team, had trouble finding the range in the second half, making only 4 of 17 from the floor. Reedsburg hadn’t lost since last year’s Division 2 championship game to Notre Dame in LaCrosse but they’ll finish 28-1. Pewaukee improves to 26-3.
The Division 2 season will end just how it began for these two teams who opened the 2021-22 schedule together. Notre Dame beat Pewaukee way back in November 67-60. If they pull off the repeat to repeat as champs, it’ll be the 5th gold ball in school history.
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