The Winfield-Mount Union Wolves were presented with a rare chance to play a true postseason basketball doubleheader Friday night, and WMU took full advantage, sweeping both games with Burlington Notre Dame.

The eighth-ranked Winfield-Mount Union girls held on to win a 57-54 thriller with Notre Dame, taking a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes and leading by five at the end of the first quarter. Senior Anna Anderson’s buzzer-beating three-pointer before halftime extended the Wolves’ lead to 30-21 at the break. The game stayed close all the way through, with WMU weathering the storm of 20 points from Notre Dame’s Lauren Krieger and 19 from Nikes senior Gabby Deery, but, after losing to Burlington Notre Dame in the playoffs each of the last three years, the Wolves finally broke through in the Class 1A Region 8 semifinals. Head coach Mendy McCreight told KCII Sports after the game that it was a classic playoff battle, and her team rose to the occasion.

“These girls, I can’t be more proud of them,” McCreight said. “They came out [and] they knew what they had to do. We prepared them the best that we could, and they played hard all four quarters, my seniors, my bench, everybody. The atmosphere was great.”

Senior Melina Oepping led the Wolves with 18 points, while classmates Keetyn Townsley and Bradie Buffington scored 13 points each to help Winfield-Mount Union improve to 21-1. WMU will play for the 1A Region 8 championship and a trip to state Tuesday night against North Mahaska.

The Winfield-Mount Union boys pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Burlington Notre Dame 63-49 in the Class 1A District 7 semis, but the third quarter was where the game changed. With the Wolves leading 23-22, junior star Cam Buffington exploded, scoring 18 of his game-high 27 points in just the third period to put WMU in front for good. Wolves head coach Klay Edwards also credited his team’s defense with getting them a seventh straight win.

“I thought, in the first half, we gave [Carsen] Jones maybe a couple easy catches,” Edwards said. “We tried to front him a little bit more. We were a little late on some back-side [help], but down the stretch we were a lot better. And then Liam Delaney’s a tough guard, because he can take it to the rim, he can finish over the rim, he can shoot it from three, he’s got a little mid-range game. So we just tried to stick with him and hedge and jump out on him as much as we could to make it tough.”

Sophomore Jake Edwards added 11 points to help Winfield-Mount Union move to 19-4. WMU will now face New London in the 1A District 7 finals.