Submitted photo: The Bishop Garrigan girls basketball team stands with a state tournament qualifying banner after Wednesday’s Class 1A regional championship.

MASON CITY — The top-ranked (Class 1A) Bishop Garrigan girls know what it takes when it comes to regional final play in the Riverhawk gym.

And they feel equally as comfortable in Des Moines from the Casey’s Center for the state basketball tournament.

The Golden Bears secured a seventh consecutive regional championship with a dominating 54-35 victory over Top of Iowa Conference rival Lake Mills here Wednesday night.

With the win, Bishop Garrigan (22-2 overall) advances to face No. 15 Kee (17-7) on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

The foes met twice during the regular season, as the Golden Bears earned 20- and 19-point wins. The difference was in total points, as Bishop Garrigan went for 70 and 68 in those victories.

“They tried their best to take what we wanted to do away from us, but we did a good job of finding new ways to score,” Garrigan’s Emmi Bartolo said. “It came down to hitting big shots and making big plays, which we did.”

Bartolo and fellow seniors Sacha Alesch, Alyssa Haugland, Carley Nielsen and Ava Roethler have now reached the elite eight all four years in a Golden Bear uniform. Bishop Garrigan — which won back-to-back state titles with Audi Crooks and Molly Joyce leading the way — has now qualified 11 times overall.

“These seniors are just a special group of players,” BGHS head coach Brandon Schwab said. “They play hard for each other and just want to win.

“I’m happy to be part of getting them to four straight state tournaments.”

This marked the Golden Bears’ third consecutive regional final at the Mason City High School gym.

Lake Mills (17-6) made it a game for the first 24 minutes, as the Golden Bears led by just one point after the first and by four at the break. Garrigan stretched its lead to 41-33 going to the fourth and never looked back.

The Golden Bears did not allow a point in the final period until there were just seven seconds left, finishing with a 30-13 run.

Kee upset fourth-ranked Springville to advance, 55-43.