WEST SALEM — The West Salem High School girls basketball team turned it on in the second half and advanced to a WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal with a 63-43 regional championship win over visiting Onalaska on Saturday.
The top-seeded Panthers (21-4) qualified to play third-seeded DeForest (13-13) at Portage on Thursday. The winner plays two days later in Baraboo for the right to play at the WIAA state tournament in Green Bay the following week.
Senior Megan Johnson was a power for West Salem and scored a game-high 32 points as the Panthers outscored the Hilltoppers by 14 points in the second half and beat them for the second time this season.
Johnson scored 14 points in the first half to help West Salem to a 27-21 halftime lead, then poured in 18 in the second half to help the Panthers finish off the victory. Senior Sam Niemeier made two 3-pointers and added nine points for West Salem, which has played in two straight state tournaments.
Onalaska (14-12) was led by senior Jenna Gansen’s 11 points. Senior Tatum Walters added nine with three 3-pointers.
Aquinas 69, Bangor 50
LA CROSSE — The second-seeded Blugolds (22-4) held the third-seeded Cardinals (21-5) to 15 points in the first half and pushed their lead well into the 20s in the second half to win their ninth straight regional championship.
Aquinas meets top-seeded Neillsville (23-3) in a sectional semifinal on Thursday.
Junior Sammy Davis had 23 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. She made 10 out of 12 shots, had three assists, and six of her rebounds were on the offensive end.
Senior Emma Dobbins made three 3-pointers and added 19 points to go with eighth rebounds and three blocked shots. She made 6 of 8 shots and all three of her attempts from the 3-point line.
Sophomore guard Ava Fernholz added 14 points with a 3-pointer and made 5 of 7 attempts from the foul line. She scored all of her points in the second half and had three assists and a steal.
DeForest 44, Central 43
LA CROSSE — Senior Jordyn Derlein knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the third-seeded Norskies (13-13) in front and give them the regional championship at the Mark Sutton Memorial Gymnasium.
Junior Chloe Ackerman gave the second-seeded RiverHawks (18-8) a 43-41 lead on two free throws with 46.5 seconds to go before DeForest came down and worked the ball around to Derlein.
Central then ran the clock down to 5.2 seconds and took a timeout. The RiverHawks got the ball to Alahnna Simpson, whose jump shot from the baseline with a hand in her face bounced off the rim as time expired.
Simpson finished with 15 points and sophomore Ellie Gillitzer 10 for Central.
Caledonia 78, Winona Cotter 59
ROCHESTER — The top-seeded Warriors (26-3) advanced to the 1AA section championship game by taking care of the Ramblers at the Mayo Civic Auditorium.
Caledonia won its eighth game in a row and advanced to play second-seeded Dover-Eyota (22-7) for the title Thursday at the Mayo Civic Arena. That game tips off at 8 p.m.
Senior Josie Foster scored a team-high 22 points, and junior Aubrie Klug added 21 for the Warriors. Junior Nicole Banse scored 20 and junior Kensey King eight for Caledonia, which beat Dover-Eyota 74-50 during the regular season.
AREA GIRLS BASKETBALL SCORES
Prairie du Chien 44, Platteville 27
Blair-Taylor 46, Pepin/Alma 42
Eleva-Strum 55, Kickapoo 46
BOYS
West Salem 71, Arcadia 44
ARCADIA — The Panthers (17-6, 11-1) completed their sixth straight Coulee Conference championship season with a win over the fourth-place Raiders (13-11, 5-7).
Ten players scored for West Salem, and five of them reached double figures.
Kyle Hehli made a 3-pointer to score 11, and he was matched at that total by teammates Brennon Anderson, Nathan Dillaber and Will Schmidt. Schmidt and Dillaber each made three 3-pointers, and Anderson made two.
Teammate Drew McConkey also scored 10 and had all of them in the first half.
Arcadia had no one in double figures and was led by senior Kaiden Rotering and sophomore Carter Wegman with seven apiece.
