After a brutal and hard-fought semifinal victory over Frankfort in the 1A-DI Centralia Sub-State on Thursday, the Doniphan West girls pushed through even more adversity in Saturday’s finals and reached the state tournament for the first time in school history with a 44-33 win over Clifton-Clyde.

The Mustangs could not have had a worse start as they started 0-for-7 from the field and trailed 6-0 three minutes into the game, but sophomore’s Chloe Clevenger and Avery Weathersbee came off the bench and provided four points each to spark Doniphan West to take a 13-10 lead after one.

Clifton-Clyde continued to battle despite turning the ball over 15 times in the first half as the Eagles trailed by just one at the half as both offenses struggled.

The third quarter is when Doniphan West started to take control as the Mustangs had Weathersbee score four more points to take a 31-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth Sadie Leach knocked down a huge triple, while freshman Melaina Whetstine made a lay-up and two clutch free throws to help extend the lead and eventually make it a 44-33 final.

Whetstine was huge for the Mustangs tying Clevenger for a team-high 10 points in the contest while Leach and Weathersbee each added eight.

Doniphan West also forced the Eagles into 23 turnovers on the day while both teams shot above 80 percent from the free throw line including a perfect 8-of-8 effort from the Mustangs.

Doniphan West now moves on to the opening round of the 1A-DI State Tournament with a 19-3 record and will travel to Little River (20-3) Monday night at 6 p.m. with live coverage on 103.9 KNZA.