It's nothing new for the Xavier girls to go to the state basketball tournament.

They've been there eight times in the past 14 years under Coach Tom Lilly. But not since 2008.

So for the six seniors on the Saints roster (four of them starters), the 50-43 victory over Prairie in the regional final Tuesday night at Linn-Mar means their first trip to Des Moines.

"These senior girls and the younger players on the team, too, now know what all that summer work was about," Lilly said. "All the practices, all the workouts. This is what it was for. To make it back to the state tournament."

As the lone Metro representative in the tournament, Class 4A fifth-ranked Xavier (18-5) will face fourth-ranked Ankeny (20-3) next Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.

After a scintillating start to their season, the resurgent Prairie Hawks ended the year at 12-10.

If not for a gutsy comeback by some very resilient young players of their own, Prairie could easily have lost the game with Xavier in the first minute of play.

On its first possession, sophomore point guard Madison Dellamuth's knee buckled on a hard drive to the bucket and she left the floor in pain. She did not return to action and Coach Steve Doser said the extent of the injury will not be known until she's evaluated.

Her loss was incalculable, although her teammates stepped up in her absence.

"Coming into the game, we knew that Dellamuth was going to be tough to guard," said Annie Dale, Xavier's spunky senior point guard. "We wanted to pack the lane to keep them from driving. So to lose her right off really  hurt them."

The suddenly depleted Hawks made just one shot out of nine attempts in the first quarter and committed five turnovers. With Dale scoring on two nifty drives, the Saints raced to an 11-0 start and led 15-2 after one period.

"Then," said Lilly, "we began to play very conservative and tentative. And we missed a lot of easy baskets.

"Instead of playing to win, we started to play not to lose. That's often when you lose."

Meanwhile, the remaining threats in Prairie's offensive arsenal continued to plug away with scrappy play. Junior Courteney McCrary popped in two quick 3-pointers and added two more buckets as the Hawks went on their own 12-4 run to close the gap to four at halftime.

Before fouling out late, she and junior Alisa Weiland along with sophomore Cyerra Hutchins kept the game close. When Weiland hit a trey to open the fourth quarter, the Hawks were back in the hunt at 32-32.

"What we stressed was to play in the present," Lilly said. "If you miss a shot, move on. And to stay mentally tough. In the end, we played just tough enough to win it."

Junior Kayla Armstrong made two layups in a row, the second coming off a feed from Dale, and the Saints were soon back up by five with five minutes to go. They could have salted it away from the free throw line, but were just eight for 17 down the stretch.

"That," said Lilly, "is uncharacteristic of our team."

Still, it was good enough to preserve the victory and send the girls to the state tourney.

"It was a little rocky at times tonight," Armstrong said. "It was a hard-fought battle. But we picked it up as a team. It was a good team win."

XAVIER (50): Emily Walvoord 6 1-3 13, Katlyn Andersen 2 6-10 11, Kayla Armstrong 5 1-5 11, Annie Dale 3 1-4 7, Alex Bartz 0 0-0 0, Maddie Bertsch 2 1-2 5, Sarah Dickes 1 0-1 3, Lisa Boomgarden 0 0-0 0, Ashley Stulken 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 10-25 50.

PRAIRIE (43): Katilyn Yanecek 0 0-0 0, Alisa Weiland 4 0-0 11, Courteney McCrary 6 1-2 15, Madison Dellamuth 0 0-0 0, Cyerra Hutchins 3 4-7 10, Emilie Rotter 0 5-8 5, Chrisandra Freeman 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 10-17 43.

Halftime - Xavier 19, Prairie 14. 3-point goals - Xavier 2 (Dickes 1, Andersen 1), Prairie 5 (Weiland 3, McCrary 2). Fouled out - McCrary.