GREEN BAY — The No. 4-seeded Notre Dame Academy Tritons (24-4) saw a 58-62 loss to the No. 1-seeded Wauwatosa East Red Raiders (28-0) in their fifth State Semifinal appearance in six seasons.
The Red Raiders secured the WIAA D2 State Title in 2025 after defeating Edgewood 59-58(3OT) and will now advance to take on No. 2 Arrowhead.
“I’m just really proud of these girls and how hard they worked. I just really think we got in a couple holes at times where we got down by eight or ten points (…) but I’m proud of their fight and I’m proud of them never giving up and just playing hard, honestly,” said Tritons Head Coach Sara Rohde.
The Tritons defended the Red Raiders’ first possession of the game, followed by Aspen Abel putting up the first points of the game on a quick layup.
The Tritons began to pull ahead early as a Kaia Waldrop and-one and a three by Abel brought the score to 10-4.
Yet, the Red Raiders answered back with two quick threes to even the score before the Tritons could pull too far away.
Both teams traded points bringing the score to 26-22 with the Red Raiders out front as another Waldrop layup kept it at a one-possession game.
Despite the back-and-forth battle, the Red Raiders began to pull slightly ahead as the first half came to a close with a score of 33-27.
The Tritons came back with renewed determination in the second half as Ava Cumicek nailed a three to cut the deficit to three right off the bat.
Red Raiders’ Guard Emma Close continued to add three’s to the board, building her impactful total of 21 points on the night.
As the Red Raiders pulled ahead to 49-43, the Tritons called a time out in an attempt to regroup against the Raiders’ quick transitions.
The Tritons continued to claw their way back as Waldrop battled for a rebound, securing another and-one and cutting the deficit to 50-55 with about 8 minutes of game time left.
The Tritons called another 30 second time out, still at an 8-point deficit with 5:38 on the clock.
After Maisie Hinz’s uncontested layup, the Red Raiders used the absence of a shot clock at the high school level to their advantage, melting away nearly a minute and a half of time.
“It’s just kind of the situation we’re in at this point with high school basketball. That’s happened multiple times today in the State games where teams are stalling with five minutes to go and, I mean I would probably do the same thing on my end if we have a six to eight point lead,” said Rohde.
Triton Senior Destiny Webster sent the Red Raiders to the line with 2:13 left in the game as a flash of promise came to the Tritons as a missed free throw gave them possession and a chance to comeback.
A Waldrop layup brought the score to 56-60, this time forcing a Red Raiders’ timeout with a four-point lead to kill the Tritons’ newfound momentum in the last minute and a half to play.
As both teams took the court again, sophomore Olivia Waldrop secured a quick steal to gain possession back for the Tritons.
Webster added 2 points to the board, bringing the score to 58-60 with just under a minute left.
Despite the battle put up by the Tritons, the comeback proved too late as the Red Raiders were able to burn the clock forcing late fouls by the Tritons for a final score of 62-58.
“I’m honestly just proud of our team. I know that a lot of teams don’t know what it’s like to make it to State, so I hope that our teammates and families realize that we made it here and not a lot of teams do, so I’m really proud of that,” said Webster.
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