In its win over Mounds Meridian at the Carbondale Shootout, Coach Shane Witzel's team forced the Bobcats into a 16-of-51 effort.

Friday afternoon in its regional semifinal, Woodlawn coaxed North Shore Country Day into a 14-of-59 showing.

Behind senior guard A.J. Webb, who led the Cardinals with 21-points, Woodlawn is now a win away from its first state title with a 62-46 win.

Gabe Owens and Christian Hollenkamp each added 15-points as Woodlawn improved to 28-5 with the victory.

Jumping out to a big early lead, Woodlawn survived a lack-luster, eight turnover third quarter and held on for the win.

With the triumph, the Cardinals will now face Carrollton in the title game Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks edged Mason City-Illini Central, 45-44 in the other semifinal.

“We got off to a great start and rode that momentum into the second half, this is a great win,” said Coach Witzel. “I think you have to give credit to the other team (NSCD). They got down in the first half and missed some shots but their kids battled back. They're a quality basketball team. Some of that was us but some of that was them. We knew that they were going to bring some pressure. We talk about being aggressive because you are going to make some mistakes. But we righted the ship and made some free throws at the end.”

As they did at SIU Arena in the Supersectional game on Tuesday night, Woodlawn had no problems finding the mark offensively at Carver Arena.

Woodlawn was a sparkling 18-of-36 overall from the field (6-of-11 from 3-point land) and hit 20-of-27 foul shots, including 14-of-21 in the final frame.

Hollenkamp added eight rebounds to his points scored and he blocked three shots on the defensive end.

Woodlawn held just a 36-34 rebounding edge and gave up a lot of offensive rebounds (18) but their opposition didn't do a good enough job of taking advantage of their second chances.

North Shore Country Day saw its mark slip to just 19-5 overall in falling into the third place game.

Coach Rashid Smith saw his club hit just 2-of-23 shots from behind the arc in the game.

The Raiders were led by Austin Curren with 22-points but no other teammate scored more than eight.

Woodlawn broke the games only tie (2-2) with a 10-0 run.

Owens and Hollenkamp both stepped up and hit 3-pointers to fuel the move.

Webb also added a mid-range shot.

Then Webb closed the quarter strong as this 5-foot-11 senior guard canned a pair of trifectas to give his club an 18-7 lead.

Curren hit three shots in the quarter, including a rebound basket that turned into a three-point play.

Unfortunately those were the only three shots made by NSCD as they were just 3-of-15 to open the game.

'We're not a great 3-point shooting team but we're a good 3-point shooting team,” said North Shore Country Day head coach Rashid Smith. “We were 2-of-23 from the 3-point line and they went 6-for-11. They shot the ball better than we did tonight.”

While the Cards were successful from long range early, they got the ball inside on dribble penetration and back door cuts to the goal.

Webb and Matt Kennedy each got behind defenders to take assists for lay ups.

Then back to the outside, Owens nailed successive 3-pointers, coming off of a pair of screens to give Woodlawn a 30-12 advantage with 2:07 left before halftime.

Owens added four free throws and a buzzer-beating lay in by Hollenkamp on an assist from reserved Ty Coleman gave Woodlawn a 38-15 spread at intermission.

“We've got some good shooters and we've got some guys that can put the ball in the hole from the perimeter and that forces them to extend their defense,” added Coach Witzel. “But the biggest part of that (good start) is that we guarded well.”

North Shore Country Day made its best move of the night in the third quarter.

After Webb hit a pair of shots to begin the second half, Woodlawn had a sloppy stretch of basketball which allowed the Raiders to make a scoring raid.

Woodlawn was outscored 11-3 the remainder of the stanza as their lead dwindled to just 45-26 heading into the final countdown.

The Raiders scored the first five points of the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by guard Jamie Swimmer and a lay in on an assist by Jake Bruce to Curren that forced a Woodlawn timeout with 6:21 left.

The Cardinals turned the momentum back around and eventually won the free throw shooting fourth quarter battle while forcing more poor shooting from NSCD.

Woodlawn will face a Carrollton team that survived its own scare in the first semifinal.

“Obviously we are excited to be playing in a state championship game,” explained Coach Witzel. “And I'm really happy for this group of guys. They have worked awfully hard, beginning last season. They were hungry to get back and get this opportunity. They are old school players and they work hard at their craft.”

The Raiders missed nine more trey attempts in the final eight minutes and were just 3-of-19 overall in the fourth.

“They (Woodlawn) got going early and when you are putting the ball in the basket, you get your confidence going,” added Coach Smith. “They hit some shots and we were getting good shots while they were making their run, shots we normally make but they didn't go in for us.”