Top-ranked Notre Dame and No. 2 Boone County will meet tonight in the girls’ Ninth Region championship game after both teams won semifinal contests last night at Holmes High School.

The Pandas rolled past Newport 67-47 while the Lady Rebels edged Holy Cross 42-41 to set up tonight’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown.

Tonight’s winner advances to the state tournament next week and will play the 10^th Region champion on Wednesday, March 23, at 6:30 p.m.

Notre Dame (24-8) was never really threatened in their game against Newport, jumping out to a quick 16-7 first quarter lead and gradually building upon it throughout the game. Forward Nicole Dickman led Notre Dame with 19 points and eight rebounds.  Tamara Sneed scored a game-high 29 points for Newport.

Boone County (23-8) had a much tougher time against Holy Cross, needing a free throw from freshman Jacy Bradley with 4.8 seconds left in the game to give the Lady Rebels the win.  Bradley scored a team-high 11 points to lead Boone County while fellow freshman center Lacy Brasseaux added nine points and six rebounds.  Senior Rachel Lantry of Holy Cross closed out her high school career with a12 point, 12 rebound effort.

The championship game is scheduled for 7:05.  These two teams met back in January at Boone County with Notre Dame pulling out a tough 52-45 win.

Boone County is attempting to get back to the state tournament for the first time since 2004 while Notre Dame takes aim at their first trip to state since 1987.