Whitefish Bay, Beaver Dam punch tickets to Division 2 championship after dominant semifinal wins

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Blue Dukes dismantled Elkhorn by 36 points while Beaver Dam knocked off top-seeded Rice Lake 70-58, setting up what promises to be a compelling championship matchup.

Whitefish Bay 36-point rout sends Blue Dukes to title game

The Whitefish Bay Blue Dukes have been to the state tournament eight times before Friday and have never brought home a gold ball. After a dominant semifinal performance against Elkhorn, they are one win away from changing that.

Watch: Whitefish Bay, Beaver Dam punch tickets to Division 2 championship after dominant semifinal wins

Whitefish Bay made quick work of the Elkhorn Elks, winning by 36 points, 78-42, with four players finishing in double figures. The Blue Dukes scored 31 of their points off turnovers, turning a suffocating defense into a high-octane offense.

Rowan Counsell and Sage Miskel each recorded five steals, but Counsell's most valuable contribution may have been her work as a facilitator. She finished with a team-high seven assists, helping set up Carrington Balthasar (17) and Madeline Volpe (23) for a combined 40 points, with each knocking down four three-pointers. As a team, Whitefish Bay connected on 11 three-pointers, a new Division 2 state tournament record.

Counsell finished with 15 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and five steals. Miskel added 12 points, five rebounds, and five steals.

Head coach Jon Schneider said the depth of his roster is what makes the Blue Dukes so difficult to defend.

"Everybody's a weapon, and I think when you have a team that's 10 deep, it's pretty scary, and tonight they showed how awesome that could be," Schneider said.

Miskel said the team's collective confidence in one another is what drives the offense.

"We know everybody can shoot, everyone can drive, everyone knows their role, so we all just go out there and play hard," Miskel said.

Counsell credited the team's quickness as the engine behind both the defense and the ball movement.

"I feel like we're such a quick team that we're able to collapse a defense so well, which was why we had like so many assists. We were able to get out to those threes and obviously hit them," Counsell said.

For Elkhorn, the loss ends a historic run. It was the program's first trip to the state tournament since 1997.

Beaver Dam upsets top-seeded Rice Lake to advance to championship

Defense wins championships — and Beaver Dam proved it Friday, upsetting top-seeded Rice Lake 70-58 to punch their ticket to the Division 2 title game.

Rice Lake came out strong early, with Badger commit Adaline Sheplee controlling the paint and showing range on the perimeter. However, Beaver Dam answered with an 18-2 run fueled by senior Nataya Donaldson, a UW-Milwaukee signee, who delivered a behind-the-back jump shot over Sheplee and followed it with a putback in the paint. Donaldson finished with a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds.

The Golden Beavers forced 13 turnovers — 11 of them steals — and went 9-of-21 from three-point range. Even as Rice Lake led early, Beaver Dam head coach TJ Julka said his team never wavered.

"Obviously, they scored the first couple of buckets, but we were confident that we would settle in. And the reason we were confident is because defense translates to any court, any game. Offense doesn't always do that, so we felt that if we stayed to our defensive principles, and were really good defensively, that eventually we would get some of those things we wanted," Julka said.

Donaldson echoed that philosophy, saying the defense is the team's most reliable constant.

"Tiring them out on the defensive end really helps us out. And when our offense isn't going really well, we can always rely on our defense to keep us in games," Donaldson said.

The win is Beaver Dam's seventh state tournament appearance. The program last played in a state game in 2019 — their 2020 appearance was canceled due to COVID-19. The Golden Beavers are a three-time state champion and are chasing a fourth gold ball.

For Rice Lake, the loss ends a short but notable chapter in program history. The Warriors made their first-ever state tournament appearance in 2025, losing in the semifinals, and returned this year for only their second trip in program history.

The Division 2 championship game between Whitefish Bay and Beaver Dam is scheduled for Saturday.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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