SOUTH WAYNE — The No. 1-ranked Black Hawk Warriors entered the regional final with a 23-0 record. Ninth-ranked Kickapoo was 22-2.

At halftime Black Hawk led 33-2.

“Our press, our defense was on point,” junior guard Natalie Leuzinger said. “Usually getting deeper into playoffs we just tire out teams instead of just getting steals right away, but we got steals right away.”

The Warriors dominated the first half in almost every aspect of the game. Kickapoo spent the first 12 minutes scoreless and was barely able to get the ball past half-court line against Black Hawk’s vaunted press defense.

In front of a sell-out crowd, the defending state runner-up Warriors forced Kickapoo into 20 first half turnovers and made a statement to the rest of Wisconsin — there truly was unfinished business to be attended to this season.

“We just put a statement out that we are going to work hard every single game regardless of who we play,” Black Hawk sophomore Bailey Butler said. “The atmosphere was crazy. The gym was packed.”

Outside of a four-minute stretch midway through the first that saw zero points and six turnovers, Black Hawk had everything going its way.

“Kickapoo is a really good team — having just two losses means they are a really good ball club,” Warriors head coach Mike Flanagan said. “There were still some things that we still didn’t do as we wanted to. We had a 13-0 lead and we sat there for a while.”

By the time Kickapoo scored its first basket, a putback by Karlee Leatherberry with 5:54 left in the first half, the Warriors had scored 22 points. Leuzinger capped Black Hawk’s big half with a 3-pointer with five seconds to go before halftime.

“Just allowing them to score only two points — they are a phenomenal team and I give them credit — we just really came out and played,” Leuzinger said.

In the second half the Warriors pulled the press, which allowed Kickapoo to run an offense that resembled a half-court attack that featured 6-0 senior center Jessica Coulthard, who came in averaging 8.9 points per game. Coulthard was held scoreless until the 13:34 mark in the second half. She finished with a team-high six points.

Kickapoo entered the game averaging 60 points per contest, but the co-champion of the Ridge & Valley Conference exits the postseason with its lowest output of the season, 24 points under a 39-50 loss to Shullsburg Feb. 9.

“We work on our press all the time and it really showed in this game,” Bailey Butler said.

Black Hawk was led in scoring by Leuzinger with 15 points. Maddy Huschitt scored 11, Bailey and Hannah Butler each had 10, and Kaylee Marty finished with nine points.

“I’ve been struggling all year tonight at the 3-point line, so to hit those two tonight gives me a little bit of confidence going into sectionals,” Huschitt said.

Kickapoo finished the game with 30 turnovers and shot 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) in the game. The Panthers were just 1 of 13 (7.6 percent) from the field in the first half, however.

Black Hawk had 10 turnovers in the first half and just four in the second. The Warriors finished 21 of 42 (50 percent) from the field, but were 13-for-23 (56.5 percent) in the opening half.

The Warriors now get just two days to prepare for their next challenge, Six Rivers West champion River Ridge (20-2), the third-ranked team in the state. The regional final was moved from Feb. 23 to the 25th because of poor road conditions that accompanied a winter storm.

River Ridge features two solid players — conference player of the year Skylar White (19.8 ppg) and Taylor Langmeier (16.7 ppg). White is a high-scoring junior guard while Langmeier is a senior guard/forward.

“White is the player of the year in the Six Rivers West for a reason — she’s a great scorer. She shoots it really well from 3,” Flanagan said. “They are going to play man-to-man and play very disciplined and really get after you. I’m almost more worried about scoring than I am about stopping them. They’ll make it tough on us in the half court to score.”

Earlier in the regional, Black Hawk picked up a 68-31 win over Iowa-Grant Feb. 22. Bailey Butler led the Warriors with 19 points, while Hannah had 13 and Marty and Leuzinger each had 11. 

Leuzinger struggled with food poisoning and needed to go to the emergency room after the game for some fluid. The illness came nearly two years to the day after she had a devastating hip injury that ended her freshman season in the playoff opener.

“I’m feeling a lot better — I finally ate today, which was my first time in a couple of days,” Leuzinger said after the Kickapoo game. She added she was ready to get back to work. “We just have to take it each game at a time now. We’re not guaranteed another game, so we can’t be looking ahead. Now we’ll look at film on River Ridge and hopefully we’ll get the win.”