Conference rivals St. Joseph’s and Incarnate Word need only win Friday’s Class 5 basketball semifinals to set up a third meeting this year in the championship game.

Holding true to the athletes’ mantra of “one game at a time,” no one really wanted to look ahead to the possibility of seeing very familiar faces on the other bench. Incarnate Word plays undefeated and No.-1 ranked Hickman Mills at 4:30 p.m.

 ”It’s kind of like the Patriots and Giants,” Incarnate Word senior Bianca Beck said referring to the Super Bowl. “They’re the undefeated team, and we’re the underdog. I hope it ends like that did.”

Should the Angels avenge their 64-30 loss to Rock Bridge in the 6:10 p.m. semifinal, coach Julie Matheny has an inkling of what to expect against Incarnate Word. Her Angels beat the Red Knights in the 2004 semifinals.

“Here we are playing for a state tournament, but it was more like we were playing against them in the Viz Christmas Tournament,” Matheny said. “It kind of lessened the jitters coming out of the gate.”

St. Joseph’s beat Incarnate for the title in this year’s Visitation Tournament 54-43, but the Red Knights came back and won the conference matchup a week later 45-35. While hesitant to look beyond Friday’s games, a few players have imagined what an all-MWAA final might entail.

“I’ve talked to a lot of girls on St. Joe’s, and we talk about it all the time and say, ‘You’ve got to win,’” Incarnate Word junior Courtney Kenner said. “We want to play each other because they beat us once, and we beat them once. It would be the ultimate matchup.”

Find more on Incarnate Word’s and St. Joseph’s state tournament tradition in Friday’s Post-Dispatch.