HURON — The Wall Eagles started from the bottom and now they’re here. 

The bottom being an eighth-place finish last season and here being a date for the state championship. 

Wall outlasted No. 1 seed Wolsey-Wessington, 76-72, in a wildly entertaining Class B girls basketball semifinal at an electric Huron Arena. Wall will face Viborg-Hurley for the state championship, one year after losing all three games in the state tourney. 

“I am speechless,” Wall junior Nora Dinger said. “We came in last year on the bottom and now here we are at the championship…I don’t have any words.”

Dinger’s coach, John Hess, was also at a loss for words after the program’s first-ever Class B semifinal victory. 

“I am speechless how we came out and played and how we shot the ball,” Hess said. “We talked all day today and before about just playing loose. We have nothing to lose and they’ve got all the pressure on them.”

Wall's Rhea Tucker (11) and Nora Dinger (3) celebrate the Eagles 76-72 win over Wolsey-Wessington during a game in the semi-finals of the Class B state tournament on Friday at the Huron Arena. (Matt Gade / For 605 Sports)

The Eagles took those words to heart. Dinger paced Wall with 24 points and hit five 3-pointers, while Paige Kjerstad added 17 points and eight boards. Rhea Tucker logged 16 points and 15 of the team’s 38 rebounds.

“Nora came out and played a heckuva game for us,” Hess said. “Rhea stepped up huge for us tonight. Paige kind of struggled tonight, but when you’ve got a 6-4 kid in the paint, that’s understandable.”

That 6-4 kid is Mallory Miller, a future Arizona State University women’s basketball player. The Pac-12 recruit logged 20 points and 15 rebounds. 

“We just wanted to attack,” Hess said. “With a kid like that she’s going to block shots. She’s a DI player. She’s going to block shots and we had a few blocked and I don’t think it bothered us. We just kept attacking.” 

While Miller had a noticeable height advantage, the Eagles still won the rebounding margin by a 38-30 advantage. 

“I think it was really, really big,” Tucker said about rebounding margin. “It improved our game and it led us to get more layups and more everything.”

Wolsey-Wessington's Mallory Miller (24) goes to the basket as Wall's Paige Kjerstad (4) defends during a game in the semi-finals of the Class B state tournament on Friday at the Huron Arena. (Matt Gade / For 605 Sports)

Wolsey-Wessington’s Mya Boomsma scored 21 points and hit four 3-pointers. Leah Williams added 20 points for the Warbirds.

The contest featured nine ties, 12 lead changes and featured multiple players hitting big shot after big shot. In the fourth quarter, Williams hit a 3-pointer to get Wolsey-Wessington within 68-65 with 4:30 left.

After the fourth quarter media timeout, Dinger was left all alone at the right wing and drilled a 3-pointer for a 71-65 lead. 

“I just happened to be open,” Dinger said. “I was feeling it and I made it.” 

Tucker stretched Wall’s lead to 75-68 with 1:48 left. Williams hit two free throws to get within 76-72 with under one minute left. But that represented the final margin and Wall celebrated its championship berth. 

“The crowd was loud and it brought us a lot of energy and we all just played together as a team,” Dinger said. “It was a whole team effort.” 

Wall led after every quarter break and built a nine-point lead (27-18) early in the second quarter. The Warbirds battled back for a brief one-point lead, but Dinger’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Wall a 38-36 halftime lead. The teams exchanged the lead four times in the third quarter and the Eagles led the entire fourth quarter to preserve a championship berth.  

“This year there were a lot of firsts for us,” Hess said. “Now again we’ve got another first. It’s awesome. I can’t say how proud I am of this group of kids.”

Wall's Nora Dinger (3) drives past Wolsey-Wessington's Payton Kemnitz (3) during a game in the semi-finals of the Class B state tournament on Friday at the Huron Arena. (Matt Gade / For 605 Sports)