2011 Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament

Class 4A Semifinals

Des Moines East 50, Southeast Polk 44

After coming close a year ago, Des Moines East is getting another chance to win the Class 4A state championship.

Markisha Wright fashioned another double-double and top-ranked East pulled away in the second half to beat No. 5 Southeast Polk 50-44 in a semifinal that featured intense, hard-nosed defense by both teams.

The difference was the 6-foot-2 Wright inside and East's big third quarter, when the Scarlets outscored the Rams 15-4 to take control.

Wright, who'll play at Notre Dame next season, scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, with six of those boards on the offensive end. Sharonda Butts added 13 points, while Nijay Gaines scored eight, including a big hoop on an offensive rebound late in the game. Sharnae Lamar contributed six steals and four assists.

Now 25-0, East will play third-ranked Iowa City West for the title at 8 p.m. Saturday. East lost to Linn-Mar 38-35 in last year's championship game.

Southeast Polk is one of the state's youngest teams, starting three sophomores, a freshman and a junior, so the Rams are likely to be heard from again. Sophomore Caitlin Ingle scored Southeast Polk's first 11 points of the second half and finished with 19. Whitney Van Wyk added 10 for the Rams, who finish 23-3, with two of those losses coming to East.

Southeast Polk kept East in check in the first half and built a 26-20 lead at halftime. But East shut down the Rams in the third quarter, holding them scoreless until Ingle scored on a drive with 38 seconds left.

Wright, meanwhile, dominated on the interior.

After Butts hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 26-25, Wright took over and scored East's next 10 points. She started her spree with a putback, took a pass from Lamar for a layup, made a free throw, scored off a feed from Butts and converted a three-point play after another follow shot.

Gaines scored six of her points in the fourth quarter and her last basket was the biggest. She slipped in for the rebound after Lamar missed a free throw and scored to give East a 45-37 lead with 1:24 to play.

East finished with a 32-20 rebounding advantage, including 17 on the offensive end, and had a 16-4 edge in second-chance points.