EMPORIA — Sacred Heart’s girls basketball team is on the doorstep of history.

The Knights took control with a magical second quarter and then held off a pair of second-half challenges from defending champion Moundridge on Thursday to claim a 69-56 Class 2A state semifinal victory over the defending champion at White Arena.

With the victory, Sacred Heart improved to 24-4 and earned a chance to claim its first-ever state championship at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against No. 1 seed Ellinwood (27-1). Ellinwood beat Eureka, 50-47, in Thursday’s other semifinal.

Moundridge (24-3) led 16-11 after one quarter, but that’s when Sacred Heart unleashed junior guard Addie Lee, who knocked down three straight 3-pointers to give the Knights their first lead and finished the period with five threes.

Lee tied a career high with 27 points and senior Skylar Douglas added 23 to lead the Knights, who shot 45.2% for the game, including 12 of 24 from 3-point range. They were 19-for-22 from the free-throw line.

Sacred Heart outscored Moundridge 26-6 in the quarter to lead 37-22 at halftime. The Wildcats used a seven-point run early in the third to get back within 11 but still trailed 50-37 heading to the fourth period.

A 6-0 Moundridge run to start the fourth quarter cut it to 50-43, but 3-pointers by Douglas and Nicole Richards stopped the bleeding and the Wildcats never got it back to single digits. The Knights iced it by hitting 11 of 14 fourth-quarter free throws.

Lee hit all 10 of her free throws and Emmy Lee added six to finish with eight points and seven assists. Richards added six points and seven rebounds.

For Moundridge, Hattie Hecox led the way with 16 points, while Cammi Unruh had 11.

The victory gave Sacred Heart a season sweep of Moundridge after also beating the Wildcats on Jan. 31 in the finals of the Hillsboro Trojan Classic. The Knights, making their first state tournament appearance since 2009, have never won a championship, but finished second in Class 3A in 2007 and in 2A in 2005.