Sisters Abby and Annie Penquite led defending champion Southeast Polk back to the Class 5A semifinals.

The ninth-ranked Rams recovered from a slow start and avenged a regular-season loss with a 68-60 victory over No. 2 West Des Moines Valley, which lost for just the second time.

Abby Penquite, a sophomore, led all scorers with 17 points and made all of five of her free throws. Annie, a senior and an all-tournament selection a year ago, added 13 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Jessica Cole also scored 13, while Jacey Huinker set her teammates up with seven assists while also scoring six points and grabbing six rebounds.

Valley beat Southeast Polk 61-48 early in the regular season and jumped to a 17-4 lead in this one. But Southeast Polk responded with 16 straight points and it was back and forth from then on.

Valley held its last lead at 53-52 on Whitney Fuller's basket with 4:29 left. Huinker then drove for a basket that started a game-turning 9-1 run and the Rams held on from there. Abby and Annie each had a steal during that stretch and Annie rebounded a Valley miss in the closing seconds.

Grace Vander Weide, a junior with Division I college potential, led Valley with 16 points. Hannah Fuller scored 15 and Lexi Merritt had nine.

Southeast Polk gave up 10 3-pointers to Valley but sank 15 of 21 free throws. Valley was 6-for-9 at the line.

It was the 13th victory in the last 14 games for Southeast Polk, which takes a 17-6 record into a semifinal game against No. 3 Waterloo West at noon Friday. Valley finishes with a 22-2 record.