State girls basketball: Area teams have experience at Nebraska's 'Big Dance'

The girls state basketball games begin Thursday in Lincoln.

Wauneta-Palisade and Cambridge will be sending their girls and boys teams to the "Big Dance."

The Cambridge girls (16-7) will play Wauneta-Palisade (20-3) in a Class D-1 first-round game at 9 p.m. Thursday at Lincoln Southeast High School.

Cambridge swoops in behind the Broncos as sixth in the ratings.

Cambridge has three state titles -- the last in 1995 -- and Wauneta-Palisade lost in the semifinals last year.

Seniors Stephanie Padilla, Kiane Alberts and Betsy Anderjaska will lead the Wauneta-Palisade Broncos team.

Padilla is 5-foot-7, Alberts is 6-feet and both average 10.9 points a game. Anderjaska is 12.7 in points and 7.2 in rebounds.

Junior Allison Ellicott and freshman Blair Dixon will also start for the Broncos, ranked fifth in the Omaha World Herald D-1 rankings.

Cristin Bruckman, 5-8, is the lone senior starter for the Trojans. She averages 8 points and 3 rebounds a game.

Shelby Schultz, a 6-0 sophomore, averages 10.3 points and 11.5 rebounds.

Traci Keyser and Bailey Soucie start as freshman. Keyser averages 13.5 points and 6.4 rebounds.

Soucie averages 9.6 points and 2.9 rebounds.

Junior Kymbre Lytle averages 6.7 in rebounds.

Southern Valley (18-3) made it to the Class C-1 state tournament as a wild card. The Eagles lost in the semifnals at state last year.

The Eagles, ranked 10th in the C-1 ratings will play No. 3 Ashland-Greenwood (22-1) in the first round on Thursday.

Game time at the Devaney Center is 11:30 a.m.

Seniors Megan Becker and Janae Perkins lead the Eagles.

Becker is 6-1 and averages 17 points and 9.8 rebounds. Perkins, 5-10, averages 11.6 points and 7.4 rebounds.

Mallory Murdoch, a 5-8 freshman, averages 11.9 points and 4.7 rebounds.

Juniors Ashley Strickland and Trisha Siebels round out the Eagles' starting lineup as listed by the Omaha World-Herald.

Perkins County's girls (18-2), the No. 7-ranked team in Nebraska Class C-1 polls, seventh spot in the C-1 rankings.

Perkins County, playing for the first time as a consolidated program, is 18-2 this season.

The Plainsmen take on No. 5 Kearney Catholic (18-2) in the first round of the state tournament. Tip-off is 5 p.m. at Pershing Auditorium.

Debra Johnson, a 5-6 sophomore and Sara Wilson, a 5-8 freshman lead the Plainsmen in scoring at 15.1 and 11.5 points a game.

Sophomore Carlie Sis averages 1 points and 4.6 rebounds.

Senior Abby McCloskey averages 8.6 points and 4.6 rebounds.

Junior Ashley Day rounds out the starting lineup. She averages 6.7 points a game.