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A 49-34 victory over De Pere completes Appleton North’s perfect season.

ASHWAUBENON You’ve got to tip your hat to Appleton North.

The Lightning girls basketball team won its first state title Saturday night and completed an undefeated season with a 49-34 victory over De Pere in the WIAA Division 1 state final at the Resch Center. But it accomplished the feat by going through two teams that when it came to the state polls were its biggest challengers.

Friday, North (28-0) took care of previously undefeated Milwaukee King, which was ranked second in the final Associated Press state poll, beating the Generals by 23 points.

Saturday, the Lightning started fast and never trailed against the third-ranked Redbirds.

Sophomore forward Paige Schabo finished with 16 points and seven rebounds for North.

Junior guard Kari Brekke added 13 points and four assists. Senior guard Callie Pohlman was next in line with nine points.

De Pere finished 25-3. Junior guard Rachel Kerkhoff came off the bench to score 11 points for Redbirds.

Senior forward Liz Nies grabbed 10 rebounds. The team suffered a key loss late in the first half when senior Olivia DeCleene, the team’s second-leading scorer, went down with what appeared to be a right knee injury.

A slow start had De Pere playing catchup for much of the first half, but it had worked its way back into the game by the start of the second half.

In fact, twice during the first 6 minutes of the second half De Pere tied the game.

Each time North responded.

After junior Annie Schneider’s three-point play tied it at 22, the Lightning came back with a three-pointer by Schabo to push the lead back to three. And after senior Annie Boyd’s three tied the game, 27-27, with 12:25 to go, North responded with a 13-2 run.

Schabo started that stretch with two free throws.

In the next three possessions, junior forward Kalen Klitzke hit a three and junior guard Sydney Levy (six points, six rebounds) had back-to-back buckets to make it 36-29 with 9:37 to play.

Pohlman’s drive and finish pushed the lead to nine with about 8 minutes left and Brekke’s shot in the lane made it 40-29 with 6:25 to play.

De Pere went scoreless for 4 1⁄2 minutes. Miller snapped the spell with two free throws, but the Redbirds had too much ground to make up and too little time.