The Guardian Angels Central Catholic Girls won 48-21 at home over Pierce Thursday night before topping Emerson-Hubbard 54-17 in the D1-4 Sub-District Semifinals at Wisner-Pilger Tuesday night.
GACC led Pierce 11-5 after one before outscoring Pierce 23-4 in the second quarter to go up 34-9 at halftime.
Pierce won the third quarter 10-8 to make it a 42-19 game at the end of three.
GACC tripled up Pierce 6-2 in the fourth quarter.
GACC was led by Lexis Haase, who had a game-high 24 points, including 19 in the first quarter. Hannah Hunke and Maddie Knobbe added 7 apiece for GACC. Knobbe also had 11 rebounds while Emily Reeson registered 7.
Head Coach Jerry Stracke. "We kind of lacked a little intensity there the second half. We had way too many turnovers, but like you said the game was won in the first half. We need to work on those things, and work on being intense throughout the whole game."
In the GACC/Emerson-Hubbard game, the Bluejays got of to a slow start as they only led 10-5 after one and 10-8 at one point in the second quarter. GACC got hot in the second quarter though, going on a 21-0 run to end the 1st half to lead 31-8 at halftime.
The Bluejays doubled up the Pirates 8-4 in the third quarter to go up 39-12 at the end of three before outscoring Emerson-Hubbard 15-5 in the fourth quarter to make up the final score.
Knobbe paced GACC with 11 points while Wobken notched 9 points and 8 rebounds. Hunke chipped in 7 points.
Stracke says his squad started playing harder after starting off slow. "We struggled with decision making and executing on offensive so we tried to pick up the intensity on the defensive end."
Stracke adds his team isn't just about one or two players. "We have a number of players on the team that can score for us. So when a team just focus on one or two we need those players to step up and have a big game for us. "
The Bluejays (19-2) take on Pender (18-7) in the Sub-District Final Thursday night.
The Pendragons defeated Clarkson/Leigh 51-31 in Sub-Districts Tuesday night.
The two teams met in West Point last Monday night with GACC winning 50-32.
Stracke says his squad has to execute on both ends of the floor to come away with another win. "It's always hard to play a team again and come away with a win and a team like Pender makes it even more difficult. With Pender's defense we need to execute on the offensive end and make good decisions. It will be important to keep the turnovers down and control the boards."
The Bluejays have to turn in an outstanding effort to come away with the win, in my opinion. You can bet GACC will get the Pendragons' best shot.
Stracke echoes these thoughts. "Any time you play well you gain confidence. Beating Pender the first time around helps - but we also know that Pender is very capable of beating us if we don't come out and bring our A game."
Pender will be fighting for their state tournament lives perhaps with the wildcard not a sure thing if they are to lose.
So that's another reason why the Bluejays have to be ready to go from the get go.
GACC is number one in D-1 in power points right now, and stands a good chance to be the No. 1 seed at state should they fall to the Pendragons, but the Bluejays want to win their way into state if they can I'm sure.
GACC has to do what they have done all year long, which is get out and play hard and take care of business against folks.
This game shouldn't be any different than any other for the Bluejays. It's certainly a huge game, but GACC shouldn't view or treat it as more than just another game.
The Bluejays just have to come out and play the way the way they have all year.
GACC's approach shouldn't be any or much different than what it has been all year.
Perhaps the Bluejays should crank the intensity and toughness up a few notches with it being the postseason, but again, there's nothing GACC really needs to do differently than what they have all season besides that perhaps.
Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. on 107.9 the Bull.
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