Greene and Unatego gather around the center of the court to honor Sidney’s Anielle McEwan-Lomnicki. (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

NEW BERLIN – After Greene won a nail-biter game in the regular season, Unatego and Greene faced each other again, this time in the girls’ MAC Championship game. Unatego won it all last year and did the same this year with a 42-36 victory. Greene, who finished as the Division II champions, suffered their second loss of the season, but stand tall at 17-2 as they head to Sectionals.

Greene played a strong first half and held Unatego to 11 points to lead 23-11 at halftime.

Unatego came out striking on both ends of the court for the second half. Greene usually pulls away in the final 16 minutes, but they were cut short this time. Greene had several chances to score, but had trouble finishing and following though, which gave Unatego the upper-hand on offense.

Unatego also had the power of the three-point shot from Bailey McCoy, who put the game away with five. She also had help of defense from Kylie Mussaw to establish confidence to drill the long shots. The Spartans defense was fierce in the final moments to secure the victory.

Payton Yahner was limited for the Trojans and had foul trouble early on. She was able to come through late in the game with a three-pointer off the bench to finish with 10 points. Abby Yahner finished behind her with eight points and picked up 11 rebounds. Cassie Butler also contributed with 11 rebounds as well. Lyla Biefeldt scored eight points in the loss as she found strength off the backboard.

Greene will start sectionals with a bye before taking on the winner of the Delhi-Groton game. Greene will host on Saturday, February 25 at 6 p.m. Admission will be charged through GOFan Digital Ticketing.

Scores by Quarter:

UN 6 5 17 14–42

GR 12 11 4 9–36

UN: Bailey McCoy 18, Madison Wilsey 10, Kylie Mussaw 8, Lizzy Craft 6.

GR: Payton Yahner 10, Abby Yahner 8, Lyla Biefeldt 8, Claire Flanagan 6, Cassie Butler 2, Cali Knapp 2.

Three-pointers: UN 7 (McCoy 5, Mussaw 2); GR 2 (P Yahner, Flanagan)