LACONIA TOPS NEILLSVILLE IN DIVISION 4 SEMIFINAL AT WIAA GIRLS BASKETBALL STATE TOURNAMENT

Neillsville's Emma Moseley saves the ball from going out of bounds during the Warriors' loss to Laconia in a Division 4 semifinal at the WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament on Thursday at Resch Center in Green Bay. (Photo by Sara Warren/For Zaleski Sports)

Zaleski Sports

GREEN BAY – The Neillsville girls basketball team’s magical season came to a screeching halt Thursday night as the Warriors fell to Laconia 50-39 in a Division 4 semifinal at the 2022 WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament at the Resch Center.

Neillsville, making its first state appearance since 2014, finishes the season with a 25-3 record.

Laconia (25-4) will play for a Division 4 state title against undefeated Mineral Point (29-0) at 12:45 p.m. Saturday. Mineral Point defeated Westfield 55-45 in the other Division 4 semifinal Thursday. Laconia’s only other state appearance ended in a championship game loss in 2019. Mineral Point, which won the title in its first appearance in 2016, was the Division 4 runner-up a year ago.

Neillsville's Amelia Trunkel drives inside for a shot during the Division 4 semifinal against Laconia at the WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament at the Resch Center in Green Bay on Thursday night. (Photo by Sara Warren/For Zaleski Sports)

Laconia led 22-17 at halftime as both teams struggled to get much offense going.

The Spartans shot just 30 percent (7-for-23) while Neillsville shot just 29 percent (5-for-17) from the field in the opening 18 minutes.

Laconia came out firing in the second half and opened up a 17-point lead before Neillsville clawed back with a 9-0 run and eventually cut the deficit to six with three minutes left, but couldn’t get any closer.

Emma Moseley went 6-for-6 at the free throw line and scored 10 points to lead Neillsville, which finished just 11 of 37 from the field. Amelia Trunkel and Paige Voight each chipped in seven points, and Paris Opelt hauled down nine rebounds in the loss for the Warriors.

Payton Morgan made three 3-pointers to lead Laconia with 12 points. Aubrey Leonard added 10 as she finished 6-for-8 at the free throw line, and Molly Johannes had seven points and 12 rebounds for the Spartans.

Spartans 50, Warriors 39

Neillsville 17 22 - 39

Laconia 22 28 - 50

NEILLSVILLE (39): Delaney Rochester 1-5 0-0 3, Emma Moseley 2-8 6-6 10, Amelia Trunkel 1-8 5-5 7, Paris Opelt 1-4 0-0 2, Paige Voight 2-3 2-4 7, Kyle Boyer 1-1 0-2 3, Ava Mortenson 1-2 0-1 2, Kati Mayer 1-3 0-1 3, Amanda Schneider 0-1 0-0 0, Skyler Hart 0-1 0-0 0, Lilly Opelt 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Koepp 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 11-37. FT: 13-19. 3-pointers: 4-19 (Boyer 1-1, Voight 1-2, Mayer 1-3, Rochester 1-4, Schneider 0-1, P. Opelt 0-3, Trunkel 0-5). Rebounds: 24 (P. Opelt 9). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record:

LACONIA (50): Molly Johannes 2-11 3-5 7, Callista VandeBerg 1-4 2-4 4, Aubrey Leonard 2-3 6-8 10, Payton Morgan 4-8 1-2 12, Tierney Madigan 4-8 1-2 9, Eva Engel 0-2 0-0 0, Molly Duel 1-3 0-0 3, Reece Keel 1-3 0-2 3, Autumn Engel 0-0 2-2 2, Kaylee Taplin 0-0 0-0 0, Cassie Coffeen 0-0 0-0 0, Julia Perstorff 0-0 0-0 0, Anna Schneider 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 15-42. FT: 15-25. 3-pointers: 5-15 (Morgan 3-5, Duel 1-1, Keel 1-3, Johannes 0-1, Leonard 0-1, Madigan 0-2, Engel 0-2). Rebounds: 38 (Johannes 12). Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: