Girls hoops season ends on Championship Saturday

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GREEN BAY - The WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament, playing for the first time at the Resch Center in Green Bay, ended Saturday with five champions winning gold medals and trophies.

GIRLS STATE HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

--Division 1

Milwaukee Riverside 55, Mukwonago 41

--Division 2

Green Bay Notre Dame 42, New Berlin Eisenhower 33

--Division 3

Kewaunee 60, East Troy 58

--Division 4

Algoma 46, Colfax 30

--Division 5

Wisconsin Rapids Assumption 39, Barneveld 35

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Tough defense by the Wisconsin Rapids Assumption girls basketball team limited Barneveld to a little over half its usual offense in a 39-35 win yesterday. That earned Assumption its first-ever WIAA Division 5 state championship. The title game was a rematch of a regular season showdown which saw Assumption win by three, 44-41. Freshman 6-1 center Gina Grundhoffer finished with 10 points for the Royals while junior Mary Sigler made four clutch free throws in the final three minutes to cement the win.

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Algoma went on a 12-3 run to start the second half and completely shut down the Colfax shooters the rest of way in a 46-30 victory to take the WIAA Division 4 state title. Algoma led by just two at intermission. Colfax managed only 10 points in the second half. Junior Kennedy Blahnik scored a game-high 17 points and took down nine rebounds in the victory. Braana Steen led Colfax with a dozen points. The Vikings connected on just one of 16 attempts from outside the three-point line.

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A basket as the final buzzer was sounding by six-foot senior Alex Richard gave Kewaunee its second consecutive WIAA Division 3 state championship with a 60-58 win over East Troy yesterday. Kelsey Stangel scored 27 points to lead the Storm to the title. Kewaunee had trailed by as much as 13 points in the first half. Richard added 16 in her third straight state championship game appearance. Kewaunee won its last 23 games of the season. Rachel Atchison scored 21 to lead East Troy scoring.

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Green Bay Notre Dame struggled to a 5-4 start to this season, but things got better after that. Much better. The Tritons won 17 of their last 19 games, including a 42-33 win over New Berlin Eisenhower in the WIAA Division 2 state championship game. The teams were tied at 28 early in the fourth quarter when Notre Dame scored eight points in a row. Eisenhower was playing in its third state tournament in the last four years and was coming off a victory over two-time defending state champ New London. Anika Johnson led Tritons scoring with 11 points.

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Milwaukee Riverside’s first appearance in a state title game resulted in a 55-41 win and this year’s WIAA Division 1 championship. Alona Johnson and Amani Wilborn scored 15 points apiece for the winners in the victory over Mukwonago. The Lady Tigers finished the season with 23 straight victories, including the title game. Neither side led by more than three points in a tight first half, but Riverside blew the game open with an 11-2 run in the third and fourth quarters. Bre Cera and Amber Gray led the Indians with 11 points each.

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While 20 girls high school basketball teams were taking part in the WIAA state tournament over the last three days, they got a chance to see a big part of Wisconsin sports history. Team members were given free tours of Lambeau Field by the Green Bay Packers. The tournament is being played in the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, just across the street from the historic home of the Packers. The girls got to run out the tunnel to the field, while listening to a recording of cheering NFL fans. They also took photos and watched a welcome message on the big video screens.

Tags: prep girls basketball, sports, prep