Second-ranked Waukee finished the game with a 17-5 run to beat unranked Cedar Falls 61-47 in the final quarterfinal game of the Iowa High School Girls State Basketball Tournament Wednesday night (March 4, 2015).

The Warriors started strong and put together a solid finish to advance to the Class 5A semifinals. And they'll see a familiar opponent when they get there.

Andie Mataloni led Waukee's balanced offense, scoring 15 points. Reilly Jacobson added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors (22-2), while Carlie Littlefield and Anna Kollmorgan each tallied 11. The fifth starter, Ellie Cavanaugh, contributed nine points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Waukee, up 32-24 at halftime, pulled away after leading just 44-42 midway through the fourth quarter and will play defending champion Dowling Catholic at 1:45 p.m. Friday for the right to advance to Saturday night's championship game. The Warriors beat the third-ranked Maroons 58-42 during the regular season. Dowling beat Waukee in the first round of last year's state tournament.

Cedar Falls (18-6) edged Cedar Rapids Kennedy to punch its ticket to state and stayed with Waukee until the last minute. The game ended the Tigers' eighth state tournament appearance and their first in seven years. Emma Gerdes led Cedar Falls with 15 points and Kiana Barney scored 10.

Waukee went 11-for-13 at the free throw line during its closing run. Mataloni scored eight points in that stretch and Littlefield had four plus to key assists. She hit Kylie Coleman cutting to the basket for a layup that made it 48-42, then found Jacobson in the lane for a bucket, which put the Warriors up 50-44.

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