WOODLAND BOYS HOLD OFF NOTRE DAME 61-55

BLOOMFIELD -- Woodland labored furiously to build a nice lead.

It had to work even harder to protect it.

The Cardinals played a phenomenal first quarter and led by as many as 15 points.

Notre Dame was relentless, however, and took a fourth-quarter lead before Woodland bounced back to win a Class 2A, District 2 semifinal game 61-55 Thursday night.

Woodland, the third seed, will take on top-seeded Scott City for the district championship.

The first quarter was the story as Woodland came out on fire and led by 13 going into the second quarter.

"They were good in the first quarter," said Notre Dame head coach, putting a special emphasis on the word "good." "It was a shock."

Neff said the team was playing with a lot of emotion. The team had found out Thursday that the physical condition of Etson Steele, a member of the Notre Dame community, had taken a serious turn for the worse. Steele's son Wes is close friends with many of the basketball players.

"We were overwhelmed with emotion," said Neff.

Woodland, meanwhile, couldn't have gotten off to a better start.

The Cardinals made six of their first seven shots, including two 3-pointers and led 12-2 at the 5:08 mark of the first quarter.

Notre Dame committed four turnovers in its first five possessions and didn't score until Derrick Schlosser put back an offensive rebound at the 5:46 mark.

After Woodland's C.W. Stacy put back an offensive rebound with 2:52 to go in the first quarter, the Cardinals had a 16-4 lead.

When the first furious eight minutes was in the books, Woodland had made seven of its 12 shots from the field and four of six from behind the arc with Jason Greer making three of his four attempts. Greer scored a game-high 17 points. Woodland led 24-11 going into the second quarter and was already in a double-bonus situation.

One of the few complaints Woodland coach Jennings Wilkinson had was his team's free throw performance. Woodland made just 20 of 41 free throws.

Knowing that his team's 13-point lead would not be safe, Wilkinson said "If we would've shot free throws better, we would've been up by 20 at half. Defensively we played a good ballgame."

The teams traded fouls and baskets in a physical second quarter and Woodland took a 37-24 advantage into halftime.

Notre Dame crept back into the game in the third, outscoring the Cardinals 12-6. The Bulldogs trailed 43-36 going into the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame quickly cut the lead to 43-41 in the fourth quarter. Then, at the 6:59 mark, Mark Rubel hit a three from the right corner to cut the lead to 43-42 and give Notre Dame the momentum.

After a time out, Woodland responded with a 6-0 run until Adam Obermiller scored a fast-break bucket to get the deficit to 52-46 with 4:15 left.

Chris Dirnberger sliced the lead to one point, 54-53, again at the 3:18 mark when he nailed a three from the left wing.

After Josh Eftink forced a 5-second call on the next possession, team captain Don Franklin hit two free throws to give Notre Dame its first lead of the game with 2:45 to go.

Matt Cutsinger responded with a basket to give Woodland a 56-55 lead.

From that point on, Notre Dame missed all seven of its shots from the field and missed three free throws, one of which was the front end of a one-and-one.

Matt Cutsinger put Woodland up for good, 56-55, at the 2:22 mark.