Council Bluff St. Albert is heading to the state semifinals for the second straight year after starting the Class 1A tournament with a victory carved out by its usual formula of balance and defense.

The top-seeded Saintes scored the game’s first 10 points and never gave up the lead in beating eighth-seeded Dunkerton 42-31 to extend its successful season for at least one more game.

Coach Dick Wettengel has relied on a deep bench all season and he did so again in this one. He used 11 players in the first half alone and seven of them scored as St. Albert (23-1) went up by as many as 15 points before settling for a 27-13 halftime lead.

Dunkerton (17-8) threatened on occasion in the second half, but the Saintes always answered and the lead never dropped below seven points.

Five players scored at least six points for the Saintes, led by Avah Underwood with 13. Underwood, a member of last year’s all-tournament team, also pulled down 15 rebounds, blocked three shots and made three steals.

Maura Ryan scored seven points, while Molly Wise, Payton Johnsen and Eleanor Coughlin each added six. Coughlin also contributed seven rebounds, Ryan had six boards to go with five assists and Wise had five rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.

St. Albert outrebounded the Raiders 46-30 and held them to 22.7 percent shooting. Limiting opponents has been a key part of St. Albert’s success this season. This was the 11th time a St. Albert opponent was held to 31 points or fewer.

Dunkerton, which had reached the semifinals in its only previous state tournament trip (2008), played a scrappy band of ball and had some good shots but couldn’t get them to fall.  Ava Fuelling led the Raiders with 11 points, Hailey Kipp added eight points and nine rebounds and Daisy Fettkether chipped in with seven points and eight rebounds.

St. Albert, which lost to eventual state champion North Linn in last year’s semifinals, will play again at 1:30 p.m. Friday.