Greta Dillinger’s torrid outside shooting sent North Polk past a familiar state tournament opponent and into the Class 4A championship game.

Dillinger went 7-for-10 from deep, including three straight treys at the start of the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach, and the second-seeded beat Dallas Center-Grimes 52-30.

North Polk, 0-3 in title games, will seek that elusive championship when it meets eighth-seeded Cedar Rapids Xavier at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The two met in the regular season, North Polk winning 59-45 on Jan. 11. That was Xavier’s last loss. The Saintes have won 13 straight since.

Dillinger scored all of her 21 points on those 3-pointers. Abby Tuttle added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Comets (24-2) and 6-foot-3 Becca Aagard dominated in the paint with 14 rebounds, five blocks, a steal and six points.

Aagard’s defense was one reason Dallas Center-Grimes struggled offensively all night. The Mustangs (20-5) shot just 26.7 percent and were 3-for-17 from 3-point range. North Polk outrebounded the Mustangs 37-27 and blocked seven shots in all.

Devon Carlie led DCG with nine points and Macy Meyer scored eight.

This was the third straight year the two central Iowa teams met in the state tournament. Dallas Center-Grimes beat North Polk in overtime to win the 2023 state title. North Polk returned the favor by beating the Mustangs in the opening round of last year’s tournament.

DCG got off to a promising start in this ne when Ava Smid dropped in a layuip for the game’s first points just 27 seconds in. But North Polk outscored the Mustangs 14-3 in the rest of the quarter and the rout was on.

The Comets led 29-14 at halftime and were up 37-16 after the Mustangs went 1-for-13 in the third quarter. Dillinger then went on her 3-point binge to stretch the lead to 46-16 and it was just a matter of playing out the string after that.