It’s a battle for playoff basketball supremacy in a little-seen true postseason doubleheader between the Winfield-Mount Union Wolves and Burlington Notre Dame, and you can hear all the action tonight on KCII. The girls’ game pits top-seeded WMU against number-five seed Notre Dame in the Class 1A Region 8 semifinals. The Wolves improved to 20-1 with their first playoff win against Holy Trinity Catholic. Winfield-Mount Union is ranked eighth in the state thanks to a dominant defense that gives up only 26 points per game, as well as the tandem of juniors Bradie Buffington and Melina Oepping, who are averaging almost 27 points and 17 rebounds combined. But WMU head coach Mendy McCreight tells KCII Sports that this next matchup will be one of her team’s toughest challenges yet.

“We’re looking forward to facing Burlington Notre Dame,” McCreight says. “We went and watched them play a couple of times as a team. We noticed some things. We know what to do, and we’re going to hope that it works.”

Not only does Notre Dame boast an 18-6 record, but the Nikes have eliminated Winfield-Mount Union from the postseason each of the last three seasons, including wins in the regional semifinal each of the last two years. While the WMU girls look for redemption, the Wolf boys will try to get past Notre Dame in the 1A District 7 semifinals. Winfield-Mount Union has won six straight to improve to 18-4, riding a stingy defense of their own that gives up only 39 points per contest and the play of junior Cam Buffington, who is putting up nearly 19 points and nine rebounds a game. Wolves head coach Klay Edwards says his team has found its groove since their last loss.

“We talked about some of things that affected us negatively in that WACO game,” Edwards says. “They’ve just relaxed and played together well. [They have] taken care of the ball better, and when we get shots up on the board, it gives us a chance to at least go rebound it. The [other] team isn’t going the other way off of turnovers. I think they’ve kind of come into their own here towards the end. Nothing’s going to be easy from here on out, though, so we’ve got to keep playing [and] keep trying to get better every day.”

WMU escaped with a one-point win when they faced 17-5 Notre Dame two weeks ago. Winfield-Mount Union looks for the sweep of playoff basketball action against Burlington Notre Dame this evening. All the live action comes your way with pregame coverage starting at 5:30. Listen to the games by streaming KCII2 on KCIIradio.com or through the free KCII2 mobile app.