BY PRESS TIMES SPORTS
Even with its leading scorer eliminated by an opposing defense, the Notre Dame Academy girls’ basketball team is extremely tough to stop.
Tritons star Gracie Grzesk didn’t score in a WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal, but her team still went on to earn a resounding 72-24 victory over Fox Valley Lutheran on Thursday night.
Grzesk — who averaged 18.2 points per game coming in — was face-guarded the entire time by FVL, which started the game defensively in a triangle-and-2.
So it was the Tritons’ other scorers that came up big.
Trista Fayta scored a game-high 21 points, followed by Peyton Musial with 15 and Hope Barington and Kaia Waldrop each had 11.
Top-ranked and top-seeded Notre Dame (26-1) won its 26th game in a row. FVL (23-4), which was ranked No. 9 in Division 2, came into the game winners of 15 of its last 16 games
The Tritons led 32-11 at halftime and didn’t let up in the second half.
“Our defense was really solid tonight and it was a fantastic team effort,” Notre Dame coach Sara Rohde said.
Notre Dame will now face Cedarburg (22-5) in a sectional final at Oshkosh West on Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner will advance to state.