Saxony girls basketball team routs Notre Dame in Kelso Supply semifinal

With less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Saxony Lutheran junior Brianna Mueller drained a runner in the lane as her teammates on the bench held up a banner recognizing her 1,000th career point.

Mueller finished with a game-high 18 points and was awarded the game ball as the top-seeded Crusaders routed fifth-seeded Notre Dame 60-20 in Thursday's first semifinal.

"They were all hoping and praying for her to do well and get that," Saxony coach Sam Sides said. "... She waited long enough to do it. We almost got the game over with before she got it, but I was hoping she'd get it tonight so she wouldn't have that hanging over her head on Monday. We can just relax and play, so that was big that we got to that point. She's had a great career. She's a hard-working girl and puts a lot of time in. She's very deserving."

Saxony (8-0) started the game with a solid shooting effort in the first quarter.

The Crusaders rattled off the first nine points of the game in breaking out to a 21-6 lead by the end of the period. Saxony was 9 of 18 (50 percent) in the first quarter, including a pair of treys from Mueller.

"We had opportunities early that we could have put up a bigger lead, but we just couldn't quite do it," Sides said. "Overall, I thought our play was pretty good."

The Crusaders knocked down their first five shots of the second half before Notre Dame (2-5) ended its scoring drought with a pair of baskets from Cheyenne Sander, who finished with a team-high six points. Saxony led 37-15 at halftime.

Saxony turned the ball over 10 times in the game and forced Notre Dame to commit 22 turnovers.

"I thought early, we were probably better in our half-court defense than we were in our full-court," Sides said. "We're probably a better half-court team than we are a full-court team. We did a good job. A few times that we broke down didn't help. We had our backs turned, but overall, we did good."

Grace Mirly added 13 points for the Crusaders, who outscored the Bulldogs 23-5 in the second half. Saxony finished the game 25 of 53 (47 percent) from the floor, while Notre Dame was 8 of 35 (23 percent).

"All those juniors are great kids to be around," Sides said. "They support each other so much. ... I've got a couple more that I think will get (to 1,000 points) by the time they graduate."

Notre Dame 6 9 2 3 -- 20

Saxony Lutheran 21 16 13 10 -- 60

Notre Dame (20) -- Cheyenne Sander 6, Allie Ziegler 5, Sam Brennan 4, Lexi Welter 2, Hayli Chapman 1. FG 8-35, FT 3-7, F 11. (3-pointers: Brennan 1. Fouled out: none.)

Saxony Lutheran (60) -- Brianna Mueller 18, Grace Mirly 13, Raegan Wieser 9, Masyn McWilliams 5, Maddie Brune 3, Tess Daniel 2, Courtney Kester 2. FG 25-53, FT 5-6, F 11. (3-pointers: Mueller 2, Mirly 1, McWilliams 1, Wieser 1. Fouled out: none.)