PALMER, Mass. – Zi’Yan Wallace had a double-double, and the Renaissance girls basketball team used a 7-0 run to start the second half en route to a 54-41 win over Lee on Wednesday in the Division 5 State Tournament Semi-Finals.

 

Wallace scored 20 points and grabbed 21 rebounds for the Phoenix, who earned a berth in Sunday’s state title game against defending D5 Champion Hoosac Valley.

 

Ninth-seeded Lee, which earned two upset victories on the road just to get to Tuesday’s Final Four game, went on a 6-0 run of its own at the end of the first half to get its deficit down to single digits.

 

But undefeated No. 5 Renaissance (24-0) quickly jumped ahead by 13 points to start the third quarter and never let Lee get closer than nine points the rest of the way.

 

“We talked about trying to hang with them,” Lee coach Rick Puleri said. “The longer we hang around, maybe they’d feel some pressure. But I think we got a little bit tired. They wear teams down. And they played a little better in the second half than we did.

 

“[The 7-0 run] definitely shifted momentum.”

 

Wallace got it started with a drive to the basket to make it 25-17 on Renaissance’ first possession of the second half.

 

After the teams traded empty possessions, Kaylee Buzzell knocked down a 3-pointer for the Phoenix to make it an 11-point margin. Two possessions later, a Wallace defensive rebound at one end led to a transition basket by Sy’nye Baker (11 points) at the other end to put the Phoenix up, 30-17, with 5 minutes, 37 seconds left in the third.

 

“That was really big,” Renaissance coach Jashua Bah said of the early second half spurt. “We make sure that second half that hard work doesn’t stop. So whether we’re winning, whether we’re losing, we’ve got to come out like there’s still work to be done.

 

“For a second, we started to take our foot off the pedal, but we reminded them that anything is possible, and they need to secure the win. And they executed that.”

 

After losing to the Phoenix twice in the regular season, upset-minded Lee was in danger of Wednesday’s game getting out of control early.

 

Renaissance used an 8-0 spurt at the end of the first quarter to open a 15-5 lead when Baker scored in transition just before the end of the period.

 

But in the second quarter, the Wildcats (16-8) rallied.

 

Giana Carlino (17 points) scored six points in the period, and the Wildcats outscored Renaissance, 12-8, to cut into the Phoenix lead.

 

Jenna Simone drove down the lane and scored to make it 21-13, and Mia Puleri (seven points) got to the line and hit a free throw with 3:06 left in the second to make it a seven-point game. Puleri set up Mika Diller (10 points, 11 rebounds) for a baseline jumper that got Lee within five points, and Carlino pulled down a defensive rebound and drew a foul, making one of her two free throws to make it 21-17.

 

Wallace hit a pair of free throws with just less than a minute until half-time to send the Phoenix into the locker room with a 23-17 advantage.

 

The Renaissance eighth-grader finished the first half with nine points and nine boards on her way to posting game-highs in both categories.

 

“We knew she would get her points, but we had to focus on staying out of foul trouble and getting the boards, making sure we boxed out,” Bah said. “We know our girls can score. We know she can score. But we wanted to trust our defense and make sure that she did her job, along with everybody else.

 

“Everybody did her job.”

 

So did the Wildcats after that brief lapse to start the second half.

 

Lee matched Renaissance, bucket-for-bucket the rest of the way but could never get within two possessions like it was at the end of the first half.

 

The high water mark came with about five minutes left when Carlino hit her second 3-pointer of the night to make it 51-32.

 

But Lee came up empty on its next four possessions while Renaissance stretched the margin back to 13, where things ended.

 

Although the Wildcats’ season ended one game sooner than they wanted, Lee’s first state semi-final appearance in 12 years was a testament to the team’s resilience, Rick Puleri said.

 

“I’m so proud of my kids,” he said. “They just, they battle. They keep battling.

 

“I think they’ve grown so much, and they’ve proven they can win on the road, and they compete. They don’t get too high, they don’t get too low. And they just continue to fight. I mean, they’re bruised, they’re beat up, they’re sore. But they keep fighting until the last whistle. I know everybody is at this time of the year, but that’s all I can ask of them, to compete.”

 

Photos from this game here.