Boys state tournament picks

Here are my picks for the boys state tournament.
BobHamar

Class A

Thursday, March. 6

At Devaney Sports Center

2 p.m. - - Ralston (21-2) over Bellevue East (16-9)

3:45 p.m. - - Creighton Prep (21-2) over Lincoln High (19-4)

7 p.m. - - Bellevue West (23-2) over Omaha Benson (16-7

8:45 p.m. - - Kearney (18-6) over Omaha Central (22-3)

Friday, March 7

At Devaney Sports Center

7 p.m. - - Creighton Prep over Lincoln High

8:45 p.m. - - Bellevue West over Kearney

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

5 p.m. - - Consolation, Kearney over Lincoln High

At Devaney Sports Center

7 p.m. - - Championship, Bellevue West over Creighton Prep

Class B

Thursday, March 6

At Devaney Sports Center

9 a.m. - - Omaha Skutt (20-5) over Elkhorn (15-6)

10:45 a.m. - - Lincoln Pius X (15-6) over Alliance (13-10)

At Pershing
7 p.m. - - Beatrice (18-3) over York (13-8)

8:45 p.m. - - Gretna (17-6) over McCook (16-10)

Friday, March 7

At Devaney Sports Center

2 p.m. - - Pius over Skutt

3:45 p.m. - - Beatrice over Gretna

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

11:30a.m. - - Consolation, Skutt over Gretna

At Devaney Sports Center

1:30 p.m. - - Championship, Beatrice over Pius

Class C-1

Thursday, March 6

At Pershing

9 a.m. - - Boys Town (21-5) over Pierce

10:45 a.m. - - Hastings SC (20-2) over Minden

2 p.m. - - Chadron (19-2) over Lincoln Lutheran (11-10)

3:45 p.m. - - Bennington (23-0) over Wisner-Pilger (23-1)

Friday, March 7

At Devaney Sports Center

9 a.m. - - Hastings SC over Boys Town

10:45 a.m. - - Bennington over Chadron

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

1:30 p.m. - - Consolation, Boys Town over Chadron

At Devaney Sports Center

9:30 a.m. - - Championship, Hastings SC over Bennington

Class C-2

Thursday, March 6

At Lincoln SE

2 p.m. - - Ravenna (23-1) over Perkins County (13-9)

3:45 p.m. - - Grand Island CC (15-7) over Deshler (22-1)

7 p.m. - - Ponca (21-2) over Oakland Craig (16-8)

8:45 p.m. - - Heartland High (19-3) over Elmwood-Murdock (20-3)

Friday, March 7

At Pershing

2 p.m. - - Ravenna over Grand Island CC

3:45 p.m. - - Ponca over Heartland

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

9 p.m. - - Consolation, GICC over Heartland

At Devaney Sports Center

5 p.m. - - Championship, Ravenna over Ponca

Class D-1

Thursday, March 6

At Lincoln East

9 a.m. - - Fremont Bergan (24-0) over Kenesaw

10:45 a.m. - - Palmer (20-3) over Mead (19-3)

2 p.m. - - Hayes Center (22-1) over Callaway (15-4)

3:45 p.m. - - Humphrey SF (21-2) over West Boyd

Friday, March 7

At Pershing

9 a.m. - - Bergan over Palmer

2 p.m. - - Hayes Center over Humphrey SF

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

9:30 a.m. - - Consolation, Humphrey SF over Palmer

At Devaney Sports Center

11:30 a.m. - - Championship, Bergan over Hayes Center

Class D-2

Thursday, March 6

At Lincoln SE

9 a.m. - - Falls City SH (23-2) over Potter-Dix (13-8)

10:45 a.m. - - Ewing (24-0) over O’Neill SM (20-3)

At Lincoln East

7 p.m. - - St. Edward (20-3) over Pleasanton (22-1)

8:45 p.m. - - Hampton (19-4) over Bruning-Davenport (20-5)

Friday, March 7

At Pershing

7 p.m. - - Falls City SH over Ewing

8:45p.m. - - St. Edward over Hampton

Saturday, March 8

At Pershing

7 p.m. - - Consolation, Ewing over Hampton

At Devaney Sports Center

9 p.m. - - Championship, Falls City SH over St. Edward

State volleyball schedule

The NSAA board of directors decided Wednesday that the tbree-day 2008 state volleyball tournament will start on Nov. 13 at Pershing Auditorium and five other high schools in the Lincoln area. Matches will begin at 1:30 p.m. The semifinals will be played on Nov. 14 at Pershing and a Lincoln High school with the championship matches on Nov. 15 at the NU Coliseum.

Girls State Basketball Day 1

The first day of the 2008 Girls State Basketball Tournament turned out to be the last day for the two area teams.
North Loup-Scotia fell to defending Class D-2 state champion Ewing while Grand Island Central Catholic lost to undefeated Cambridge in Class C-2.
Both teams lost by double digits. Both teams struggled to get the offense going.
While the loss will sting for a while, it must be remembered that only 48 teams get to be state tournament participants, and only half of them get to play more than once.
GICC and NLS both put together solid seasons that should be remembered and appreciated.

Boone Central fans impressive

I've been to a lot of games this year. I haven't added them up, but I've probably watched more than 50 at least. All too often, I've had loud, obnoxious fans sitting right behind me, complaining about how the referees were awful and the coach didn't know what he was doing.

Monday I was at the Class C-1, District 4 final at Aurora between Hastings St. Cecilia and Boone Central. I would have to say the Boone Central fans sitting behind me were as good as any fans I've seen all year. Maybe even in the last couple of years.

Sure, there were a few minor calls at the refs to call the hand check, but it was quite a pleasant experience to sit among a group of fans without one yelling how the refs were against them and didn't know what they were doing.

So thank you to all those Boone Central fans. Your team didn't win, but you were all winners in my book.

Girls State Basketball

They are the few, the proud, the girls state basketball tournament qualifiers from The Independent's coverage area.

This year only two of the 44 area teams earned a trip to Lincoln, the lowest in recent memory.

North Loup-Scotia earned the only district championship of the area teams by beating Lindsay Holy Family. The Wildcats face Ewing in the first round of a tough Class D-2 field in the 4 vs. 5 matchup. With the top eight teams in the wild card standings qualified, D-2 will be an interesting class with competitive match-ups for three days.

Grand Island Central Catholic earned a wild card in C-2 and faces undefeated Cambridge. The Crusaders would have met the Trojans in the district final if they had beaten Ravenna in their subdistrict. Instead they'll face Cambridge at state. I guess that's cutting out the middle man.

Boys post season under way

The boys are now headed into the subdistrict finals for the lower classes and so far there have been a couple of surprises. Some may have been a bit surprised to see Gibbon upset Class C-2, No. 3 Grand Island Central Catholic 50-46 Tuesday night in overtime. The Crusaders were unable to get enough offense going to win this game. Spencer Fahey had 27 points, but one player scoring usually isn't enough.

Gibbon's Josh and Jordan Reinertson carried the Buffaloes with more than a little help from their teammates. The Buffaloes have a huge task ahead against No. 1 Ravenna on Thursday, but Gibbon did take the Bluejays to overtime before falling in the Lou-Platte Conference semifinals. Don't be surprised if this is another tough, close game. Gibbon would probably prefer to keep this game in the 40s or 50s. Ravenna would love to score 70, but my guess is the Bluejays won't get that many against the Buffaloes.

Meanwhile in the Class C-1, Subdistrict 8 at Grand Island Senior High, Jake Hamburger shot a very good Hastings St. Cecilia team past St. Paul 56-52 by making 6 of 8 from 3-point range. The Bluehawks against Minden in the subdsitrict final Thursday is one of the top match ups in the state.

So is the C2-2 final at Hastings SC with Heartland (19-2) taking on Deshler (20-1). After falling to Doniphan-Trumbull 46-40 in the regular season finale on Friday, Heartland survived with an overtime win over Thayer Central on Tuesday.

One of the big surprises was 4-16 Rock County beating 14-8 Sargent in the D2-8 subdistrict. Rock County trailed 39-20 at the half, but outscored the Bulldogs 45-17 in the second half to take a 65-56 victory.

Girls BB districts set

Sites and times for girls basketball district finals in classes C-1, C-2, D-1 and D-2 were announced today. All games will be held on Friday, Feb. 22.

Six area teams have advanced to within one win of the state tournament.

In Class C-1, Ord (12-8) looks to upset Crofton (21-1). The game will be held in Neligh at 7 p.m.

In Class C-2 Ravenna (19-5), after back-to-back wins over 18-win teams, now takes on undefeated Cambridge (21-0) in Lexington at 7 p.m.

Two teams are still alive in Class D-1. Kenesaw (16-6) lost four of five to close out the regular season but stunned Silver Lake in the subdistrict final. The Blue Devils (16-6) face Lawrence-Nelson (14-8) at Adams Central at 7 p.m. Also Osceola (12-10) will play Elgin Pope John (22-2) at Columbus High at 7:30 p.m.

Two area teams also remain in Class D-2. Giltner (18-4) faces the challenge of Falls City Sacred Heart (22-1) in Wilber at 7:30 p.m. while North Loup-Scotia (21-1) looks to earn a return trip to state against Lindsay Holy Family (14-7) in Fullerton at 7 p.m.

In the wild card watch, St. Paul saw teams that it needed to win on Thursday lose and its point total drop it to ninth, ending the Wildcats' season after a loss to Minden.

In Class C-2, Grand Island Central Catholic needs Perkins County, Cambridge and Sutton to win to have a shot at the second wild card. Elmwood-Murdock appears to have the first one locked up. This puts Ravenna in a must-win against Cambridge to get to state.