Next stop: Green Bay!
The Owen-Withee Blackhawk girls basketball team heads to the Resch Center in Green Bay Friday morning for its 10th appearance at the WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament.
The Blackhawks have been runner-up four times, their most recent trip to state was in 2014.
The Blackhawk victory in the WIAA Sectional Championship game was Saturday night, as O-W overcame a slow start to defeat Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran 37-29 in a game played at Eau Claire North.
Josh Jalling took over head coach duties for the Blackhawks four seasons ago. His team heads into state with a 25-4 overall record and the daunting task of playing top-seeded and 27-1 Assumption. Assumption won the Marawood South Conference with a 16-0 record. It advances to state after defeating Sevastopol by a 61-42 margin.
Jalling and the team were joined by boisterous Blackhawk fans after the game.
“We fought until the very end,” he said. “Things didn’t go our way early, but we battled through it, kept our composure and finished strong.”
Junior Madi Mueller and senior Geneva Capetillo led the Owen-Withee attack with 12 points each. Ellie Petersen scored seven, Kendall Weiler had four and Kayla Rasmussen had three.
It was team effort the whole way for the Blackhawks. They regained their composure after the rocky start, stayed aggressive on defense, swarmed very loose ball and hit key buckets when it mattered.
Capetillo drove to the hoop for the first basket of the game after a Weiler rebound on Immanuel’s first possession. The Blackhawks had to settle their nerves after several turnovers and an almost 8-minute scoring drought. Capetillo grabbed a rebound and put it back in to bring O-W to within 8-4. And the rest of the first half pretty much belonged to the Blackhawks. Weiler drove for two and Petersen and Mueller drained three pointers to put the Blackhawks on top for good. Petersen had a long two and Mueller drained another three to put O-W up 19-12. After two Weiler free throws, they went into the half with a 21-13 lead.
After the intermission, Capetillo hit back-to-back baskets to put Owen-Withee in the driver’s seat with a 25-15 lead.
Immanuel then got hot, draining a couple threes and a basket to pull within three points at 26-23.
Capetillo scored on an inbounds play and stole the ball on the other end, driving for a fastbreak lay-up to make the score 30-23.
The Blackhawks slowed down their offense late in the game, and Immanuel couldn’t catch up. Mueller put the finishing touches on the game, connected on two free throws in the last minute.

WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament
DIVISION 5
Semifinals - Friday, March 14
Game-1: #1 Assumption (27-1) vs. #4 Owen-Withee - 9:05 a.m.
Game-2: #2 Lourdes Academy (24-5) vs. #3 Barneveld (21-7) - 15 mins. following Game-1

Championship Final - Saturday, March 15
Game-3: Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 - 11:05 a.m.