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After a back-and-forth first quarter that ended with Assumption up by two, the Royals broke the game open and never looked back en route to a 61-41 victory over Heritage Christian in a WIAA Division 5 girls basketball state semi-final.

Defending champion Assumption got scoring contributions from 10 different players on the day, seven in the first half alone, including a team-high 12 from Brittney Birkhauser.

Assumption was able to find openings in the Heritage Christian defense all game, shooting 55.8% from the field. Meanwhile, the Eagles struggled to a 25.9% shooting day. 

Ramiyah Bennett, Mariana Bautista, and Abby Shane came in averaging a combined 51 points per game for head coach Terry Bennett, but the Heritage Christian trio was held to just 37 while shooting just 13 of 46. Bennett did finish with a game-high 21 points, but missed 10 of 11 three-point shots. Bautista led the way with 15 rebounds.

Assumption grabbed a 14-12 lead on a pair of free throws from Gena Grundhoffer with 15 seconds as part of a 13-0 run by the Royals. Their halftime lead sweeled to 41-22 as the team's played at a frenetic pace, before things slowed down a bit in the second half. Assumption's lead went under 10 points just once after halftime.

1296. That was the combined number of wins as girls basketball coaches by Barneveld's Jim Myers and Owen-Withee's Al Guthman coming into their WIAA Division 5 state semi-final. Ultimately, it was Myers who notched a state-leading 671st career "W" as the Eagles pulled away from the Blackhawks for a 71-53 victory.

Barneveld jumped out to a fast start, leading 10-0 just two and a half minutes into the game. At the end of the first quarter, that advantage had ballooned to 20-7, and the Eagles never looked back.

The 6:28 mark of the second quarter when they cut it to a nine-point deficit was the only time in the last three periods that Owen-Withee was within single digits.

Barneveld was led by sophomore Hannah Whitish, who finished with 19 points, while Rachel Slaney (15) McKenzie Sporle (10) also finished in double figures. Ten different players got into the scoring column for Myers' crew.

By contrast, Owen-Withee got 51 of their 53 points from just three sources: Stephany Heggemeier (21), Bailey Karaba (17), and Hayley Bunnell (13). Whitney Baehr tallied the only other two points.

Junior Maggie Oimoen came off the bench to grab 11 boards for Barneveld, while Bunnell (11) and Karaba (10) both reached double figures in rebounds for Owen-Withee.

With the win, Barneveld advances to the Division 5 state title game for the second straight year, where their opponent once again will be Assumption, who won last year's thriller 39-35.

Note:  Attendance for the Division 5 afternoon session was 3,183.