Tough Tigers, Falcons hold Top 10 rankings

Senior Amanda Horinek (14) has helped the Hitchcock County Falcons reach 16-3 and a Class D-1 Top 10 spot this season. The Falcons host Cheylin (Kan.) in a girls-boys pair tonight.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

LINCOLN, Neb. — Despite Friday’s loss at Hershey, the Dundy County-Stratton Tigers are still No. 7 among all Lincoln Journal-Star Class D-1 girls basketball teams.

DC-S owns an 18-2 record which includes RPAC, Cattle Trail and Kimball Tournament titles.

The Tigers’ only other loss was to No. 10 Hitchcock County (16-3), who maintained its spot after fighting off Maywood Hayes-Center Friday night.

Coach Kim Stengel’s MH-C Wolves are 16-5 and remain a D-2 Top 10 contender.

Yet the Cambridge Trojans are also knocking on Top 10 status following a huge upset win over previous No. 1 North Platte St. Pat’s, 51-40, Friday on those Irish’s home floor.

Cambridge (13-6 record) is now a Journal-Star “contender” though half of its losses are to DC-S (twice) and Hitchcock this season.

Familiar foe Pleasanton (20-1) has replaced St. Pat’s as the D-1 No. team. The Bulldogs beat Hitchcock County at last year’s D-1 state tourney along with an earlier win over those Falcons this season.

The boys’ rankings list Wauneta-Palisade (14-5) and DC-S (14-5) as D-1 Top 10 contenders.

However, the Tigers are still trying to recover from an overtime RPAC tourney loss to W-P on Jan. 23.

DC-S has since dropped games vs. Wallace (42-41) and Hershey (70-58).