Latifah McNeal posted 18 points and an incredible 23 rebounds to carry the South Jersey champion Lady Warriors past Central Jersey winner New Providence, 46-30, in the state semifinal Wednesday night played at Deptford High School.

Wildwood, which won three consecutive state titles from 2000 through 2002 and also was a state finalist in 2003, will play for the program's fifth state title overall Sunday afternoon at the Ritacco Center in Toms River at a time to be determined.

"At the beginning of the season I didn't think there was any way we could get this far," said McNeal. "It's incredible to me that we're now in the state championship game."

Ahead by five points late in the third quarter, Wildwood scored the last five points of the period before erupting for the first eight points of the fourth quarter to pull away from a young Pioneer team that started two freshmen and two sophomores.

Wildwood (21-7) used its delay offense to start the fourth quarter to draw the Pioneers out of a 3-2 zone, and the strategy worked to perfection as the Lady Warriors scored layups on four out of their first five possessions to build a comfortable 18-point lead. The Lady Warriors were up by as much as 20 points in the final period.

"Every time playing against the zone, Latifah seemed to have two people guarding her," Wildwood coach Dave Troiano said. "I just didn't feel they had any one person that could stop her so we went to the V-cut, and the girls are getting pretty good at that offense because they really look for each other with the back-door cuts. The kids really seem to enjoy doing that."

Wildwood scored only two points over the first five minutes of the third quarter as New Providence cut an eight-point halftime deficit to five, but Katie McWade's putback and Shakiyrah Bishop's basket and free throw allowed Wildwood to take a 10-point lead going into the final quarter.

"Except for the first four minutes of the third quarter, I thought we really came alive offensively in the second half," Troiano said. "I don't know if we were any better defensively, but our offense really picked up, and once we got a 10- or 12-point lead, (New Providence) had to start rushing their offense a little bit and that's when things really started going our way."

Bishop added 15 points for Wildwood, which won its fifth straight game -- four of them playoff contests.

Kaitlyn Cresencia scored 10 points and Shelly Montagna, the team's leading scorer at 14.5 points per game, was held to one field goal and nine points for New Providence (21-5).