In their regional championship win over Oak Forest last week, the Providence girls basketball team played dominant defense and got the victory despite an up-and-down offensive night.

In their regional semifinal game Tuesday against Thornton Fractional North, two of those things remained consistent – the defense was suffocating, and the Celtics got a lopsided victory.

The Providence offense matched that shutdown defensive effort, as the Celtics had more points at halftime than they did midway through the fourth quarter of their regional final. The defense held the Meteors to just four shots from the field in the opening 16 minutes, and nothing changed in the second half as Providence won 65-42.

The Celtics now advance to the Hillcrest Sectional championship match Thursday against second-seeded Hillcrest at 6 p.m.

The top seeded Celtics (30-4) have been no strangers to success over the past decade, regularly winning more than 24 games. To reach 30 wins is quite the milestone, though, and the Celtics are now in position to win their first sectional title since the 2019-2020 season.

The defense has routinely been the story, especially as of late. Aside from the second quarter, Providence held Oak Forest to just one field goal and five points on the evening. They kept the Meteors off the board entirely until midway through the first and didn’t surrender a field goal until 54 seconds were left in the period.

“How important was that fast start, right?” coach Eileen Copenhaver said. “Did you see how competitive (TF North) was in the second half? They got on track, and we were trying to play a little more cautious, which wasn’t a good combination. Kudos to them, they can really score.

“We’re thankful we came out as intense as we did.”

The regional championship aside, the offense has been just as excellent all season. Led by Pepperdine commit Landrie Callahan, the Celtics put up 70 points in the regional semis against Bremen. They had no trouble Tuesday, either, as Callahan put up 23 points and 16 rebounds, with her sister Layken adding 11 points and five rebounds.

Kennady Kotowski (12 points, seven rebounds) and Taylor Healy (12 points, six rebounds) also had magnificent nights.

“We knew TF North was a tough team,” Kotowski said. “We knew we had to keep the intensity up the whole game and never let up.

Credit fourth-seeded TF North (22-9) as it continued to fight in the second half. Providence didn’t score its first points of the second half until two minutes had passed when Landrie Callahan hit a pair of free throws. Their first shot from the floor didn’t come until a minute later when Kotowski hit a layup.

Even then, Providence still led by 18 points. After being up 21-7 through one quarter and 38-15 at halftime, the Celtics maintained a 53-20 edge entering the final period.

Nothing changed in the fourth. The Celtics led by as many as 28, and while the Meteors deserve credit for continuing to make shots against Providence’s first-string unit, the Celtics proved too mighty.

“Our defense has been so good recently,” Landrie Callahan said. “We’ve obviously been hitting the gym and practicing there. It was nice to score a bunch. I can always count on my teammates to score.”