Guy hit a jumper, Jones connected on another from long range and Fearday added a basket to put the Lady Bulldogs ahead 53-50.

After Faith Aherin scored for Dieterich, Hakman connected on three free throws in the final 35 seconds to secure the win and advance the Lady Bulldogs to the championship game.

Hot shooting and the ability to take care of the ball proved to be keys in the decisive fourth period.

After making 13-of-31 shots through the first three periods, St. Anthony made 7-of-10 in the final quarter. Jones was 3-for-4 to lead the way with eight points.

And after turning the ball over 22 times in the first 24 minutes, the Lady Bulldogs only turned it over twice in the final eight minutes.

“We had way too many turnovers tonight that led to some easy baskets,” Rios said. “But we were much better in the fourth quarter.

“And our defense started to show who we are in the final period as well,” the first-year St. Anthony coach added. “We created some turnovers. Our defense turned into offense for us.”

Rios was especially pleased with Hakman’s defense on Dieterich’s Andrea Bierman in that fourth quarter. Bierman led her team with 14 points, but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.

“Bierman is their best player and Izzy did a nice job of shutting her down the final period,” Rios noted. “We call Izzy our ‘lightening bug’ for a reason. Our defense really stepped up.”

The first half was extremely tight. The largest lead for either team was four points. The lead changed hands 12 times and when the first 16 minutes were completed, it was a 27-27 ballgame.

Dieterich came out strong in the third period, scoring the first six points. After Fearday grabbed an offensive rebound and scored for SAHS, Brooke Locey made a jumper and Emily Bloemer converted a turnover into another basket and the Lady Maroons owned an eight-point spread, 38-30.

St. Anthony then scored six straight points to get within two, but Dieterich closed the quarter on a 6-0 run of its own to take a 44-36 advantage into the fourth period.

“We had difficulty scoring the first three quarters,” Rios said. “We struggled getting our offense running at times. We like to get it out and go, but we missed a lot of easy shots.

“Fortunately, Reese hit a couple big shots for us in the fourth period and Izzy came through at the line,” Rios added. “In the end, we made the baskets and the free throws we needed and brought it home.”

The Lady Maroons, who ended their season 11-18, got 14 points from Bierman and 10 from Boerngen.

Guy led the Lady Bulldogs with 20 points. Fearday came off the bench to score 13 and Jones finished with 10.

St. Anthony, now 13-15 on the season, will tangle with an Altamont team that is 24-6 and ranked in the top 10 in the Class 1A poll.

“They have a really good team,” Rios admitted. “But we’re looking forward to the challenge. I’m proud of our group of girls. They have bought in to what we’re trying to do. I couldn’t ask any more of them. And Friday night, we’ll show up, play hard and do our very best.”