Trio of area girls teams finish in Top 10s

Junior Avery Johnson of Maywood-Hayes Center (right) tries to block the nearest driving lane for Hitchcock County junior Shaye Porter (left) during the 41-38 Falcon home victory at Trenton last month. Both the Falcons and Wolves reached district title games while posting a combined 38-11 record this season.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

LINCOLN, Neb. — With the only D-1 state tournament win by more than nine points, Dundy County-Stratton’s girls clearly earned a No. 2 final ranking from Lincoln Journal-Star basketball writers today.

The Tigers trounced defending D-1 champion North Central, 48-28, on Thursday and then edged No. 3 consolation champ Pleasanton Friday morning.

They led No. 1 Archbishop Bergan at halftime on Saturday before losing that state title game, 36-27, mainly due to late Bergan free throws.

The Tigers posted a 24-3 record, and their only other loss in Nebraska came to nearby RPAC rival Hitchcock County.

Sure enough, the Falcons (18-5 record) earned a D-1 No. 10 final ranking. Only high-scoring No. 7 Weeping Water stopped Hitchcock, 85-66, during the district championship round.

The entire D-1 top 10: 1. Bergan (19-8), 2. DC-S (24-3), 3. Pleasanton (27-2), 4. Elkhorn Valley (24-6), 5. North Platte St. Pat’s (24-2), 6. Humphrey’Lindsay Holy Family (21-5), 7. Weeping Water (18-9), 8. North Central (20-3), 9. Lawrence-Nelson (20-5), 10. Hitchcock County (18-5).

St. Pat’s lost only to the Cambridge Trojans before a state tourney heartbreaking defeat to Elkhorn Valley.

Coach Mark Brown’s Falcons split two meets with DC-S and Maywood-Hayes Center this season.

Lincoln didn’t forget the 20 wins that those M-HC Wolves earned this season. They are No. 10 in today’s Class D-2 final ratings.

The Wolves went 20-6, and coach Kim Stengel’s team also reached a second consecutive district title game. They lost to No. 7 Mullen (21-4) at North Platte on Feb. 22.

M-HC owned more wins than No. 1 Wynot (19-6), which won a wild final Saturday night over Falls City Sacred Heart.