All season long the Wetmore girls have done the most with what they have which for most of the year has been playing with only six girls and a few games even playing with just five.

Despite that, the Cardinals have battled, and Saturday afternoon punched their ticket to the state tournament for the first time since 2017 with a 33-32 victory over Hanover.

The Cardinals raced out to an 8-4 lead after the first quarter on a pair of 3-pointers from Abby Shumaker, but Hanover came back and took a 14-13 lead at the half behind seven points from Ceegan Atkins.

Neither team led by more than four points the remainder of the game with Hanover leading 25-23 after three quarters and 32-30 in the final seconds of regulation.

After Hanover took that lead, Wetmore Coach Adam Maas called a timeout and asked junior Kenzie Strathman if she was ready to step and take the shot for the win.

Without hesitation Strathman said yes and delivered, draining a triple from the wing giving the Cardinals the one-point victory.

Strathman led the way with 18 points in the win while Reagan Osterhaus added 13 blocks including five in the first quarter.

Wetmore (17-7) now heads into the 1A-DII State Tournament for the first time since going three straight years in 2015, ’16 and ’17.

The Cardinals will have a long road trip to Beloit-St. John/Tipton (18-1) with the game scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with live coverage on 92.1 KMZA.

Wetmore last played the Blujays in 2015 in the opening round of the 1A-DII State Tournament falling 52-49.