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Pewaukee didn't look ahead whatsoever in its Division 1 state semifinal matchup with West Salem at the Resch Center on Friday afternoon.

West Salem took a 2-0 and 5-3 lead early on in the game, but Pewaukee's defense put the clamps on and the offense began to hum along, despite foul trouble to sensation sophomore Giselle Janowski. The Pirates used a 13-0 run midway through the first half and finished on a 25-5 run over the last 7:17 overall to go up 37-17 at the intermission.

Sophomore Kylie Pieper led Pewaukee with ten first half points and added four steals. Junior sisters Amy and Anna Terrian tallied nine and six points at the break. For the Panthers, Megan Johnson led the way with nine points.

The second half started much of the same as the first with West Salem keeping it even for the first few minutes. However, Pewaukee slowly pulled away.

Ultimately, the Pirate full court trapping defense was too much to overcome for West Salem, forcing 20 total turnovers and a handful of other deflections, effecting the Panther's offensive rhythm. Pewaukee scored 24 points off of those turnovers.

Pewaukee out-rebounded West Salem 43-20 and similarly outscored the Pirates 42-20 in the paint.

Overall, the balance of Pewaukee is what led to a 38-point win. Four Pirates scored in double figures with three more scoring over five points.

West Salem got 20 points from junior Johnson, but only got six from its second leading scorers.

For the top-seed Pirates, Michigan State commit Amy Terrian had a team high 19 points to go along with ten assists and eight rebounds. Twin sister Anna added 17 points, including going five of eight from beyond the arc. Janowski finished with twelve points despite just three in the first half and Pieper finished with her ten from the first half.

Pewaukee will now look to avenge back-to-back state championship losses to Notre Dame as the two will meet for the gold ball for the third straight season.

Notre Dame's size and experience were too much for the younger Wauwatosa East squad in the second of the Division 2 state semifinal matchups.

The Tritons came out of the gate firing on all cylinders, going up 17-2 in the first six minutes of play. Fourteen of those points came at the rim.

After that the Red Raiders settled in and played the Tritons almost even for the rest of the half, with Notre Dame ahead 35-19.

Sophomore Kai Waldrop led Notre Dame with ten points at half, all coming in the paint. Seniors Trista Fayta and Sydney Whitehouse both had seven for the Tritons, with Fayta fellow senior Gracie Grzesk combining for ten assists.

For Wauwatosa East, sophomore Mikaia Litza had ten points and three assists.

The second half saw Notre Dame's physicality wear down the Red Raiders, forcing them into ten turnovers and going on four, five-point plus runs.

Overall, Notre Dame's maturity and experience shined thru. All five starters finished in double figures for the Tritons. Fayta finished with a double-double 18 points and ten assists, adding five steals and five rebounds. Grzesk also had a double-double with 14 points and ten assists. Whitehouse, Waldrop and junior Peyton Musial finished with over 12 points each.

For Wauwatosa East, Litza led all scorers with 21 points on eight of eleven shooting.

Notre Dame shot 59% from the field, compared to Wauwatosa East's 38%, due in large part to not allowing anything easy for East. That physicality was even more pronounced in the fact that the Tritons won the point paints battle 52-18.

Notre Dame will look to do what no other team in history has done in Wisconsin girls basketball, four-peat. To do so, they'll need to knock off a Pewaukee squad for the third straight season in the championship game on Saturday afternoon.