2026 Nebraska Girls Basketball State Championships Finals Roundup

Nebraska crowned six state champions at the 2026 NSAA Girls Basketball State Championships inside Pinnacle Bank Arena Saturday.

The NebPreps team posted up all day to bring you comprehensive coverage of the finals here and on our social feeds.

Previous Roundups: Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

CLASS D2

No. 1 Dundy County Stratton 49, No. 6 Wynot 39

The Tigers used an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to take control and secure the first state championship in Dundy County Stratton girls basketball history to start the day’s action.

“We knew it was going to be rough, because Wynot plays hard-nosed, tough basketball,” Dundy County Stratton coach Matt Schaub said. “I think they took the lead there a little bit, but these girls just showed great persistence. They hung in there and they turned it around in that fourth quarter … I couldn’t be prouder. What a smart, super-freaky athletic group, I’m just really fortunate to get to coach them.”

A strong start to the second quarter gave the Tigers a 19-9 early, but the Blue Devils rallied to take a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. After regrouping during the break, Dundy County Stratton scored 11 straight points to build a 10-point lead.

Junior Kimberly Escobar capped the run with a moonshot of a 3-pointer midway through the fourth, giving the Tigers a big enough cushion to fend off one more push by Wynot.

“It was great,” Escobar said of the shot. “In all honesty, I kind of thought I was going to miss it. I threw that thing up. As soon as it went in, I was like ‘OK, we have this.’”

Abi Spargo led Dundy County Stratton with 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven steals, capping a stellar sophomore season with a title. Her sister Clara, a senior, came up just short of her own double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Escober chipped in nine points, five rebounds and three steals.

The older Spargo is one of two seniors on the roster. The other is Lexie Yrkoski who played 17 minutes off the bench. She didn’t score, but her presence alone made an impact.

“She played with a torn ACL, torn MCL,” Schaub said. “She was like, ‘You’re not shutting me down; I’m playing in the finals.’ She gave us some really key minutes late.”

All that’s left now is for the Tigers to celebrate, which they plan to do in the same way they did after winning a track state championship — with one key difference.

“We’re going to get our escort back into town like we did for track,” Clara Spargo said. “I’m super excited. I get to ride on the bus with my best friends, I still get to hang out with them. I’m super excited. We’re going to wax some boys’ legs and shave some heads.”

Spargo clarified that the girls made a bet with some of the Dundy County Stratton boys before the tournament, and they plan to cash out on it soon.

>> Third-Place Game: No. 2 Red Cloud 38, No. 5 Archangels Catholic 25

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — DCS SO Abi Spargo: 16.3 PPG, 52.4% FG, 10.3 RPG (3.0 ORPG), 5.7 SPG, 2.7 APG, 2.3 BPG

>> DCS JR Emily Schack: 10.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG (3.3 ORPG), 3.0 BPG, 1.7 SPG

>> Wynot SR Kenna Oligmueller: 14.3 PPG, 51.9% FG (55.6% 3FG), 6.3 RPG (2.3 ORPG), 2.0 BPG, 1.7 SPG

>> Red Cloud SO Josie Faimon: 22.3 PPG

>> Archangels Catholic SR Whitney Wegener: 12.0 PPG

 

CLASS C1

No. 1 Milford 66, No. 3 Malcolm 52

The first meeting between the two Class C1 powerhouses was an instant classic, and Saturday’s rematch looked to be heading in the same direction through three quarters. However, the Eagles had other plans, pulling away in the fourth for a double-digit win to claim the school’s first title one year after coming up short in the final.

“We knew it was going to be kind of a dog fight,” Milford coach Bryce Roth said. “If anybody was there for the first game, it was like a boxing match. It was back and forth and the talent that is on the other side of that, and Coach [Dennis] Prichard is an amazing coach. Give them credit. Halle and Payton [Dolliver] are a handful to guard.”

If Saturday’s game was a boxing match too, the knockout punch came in the form of a four-minute Malcolm scoring drought that extended a five-point Milford lead to nine with 1:19 to play.

In total, Milford outscored the Clippers 17-5 while holding them to 1-for-13 shooting in the final period.

“That fourth quarter, we really locked down and just decided to make stops, held them to five and finished it off with defense … I’m proud of our girls,” Roth said. “They’re tough, they’re disciplined, they’re resilient and they’re unbelievably coachable. They’ll do anything for their teammates to be successful.”

With 6-foot-4 sophomore Shayla Rautenberg and 6-foot-1 junior Ashlynn Miller in the frontcourt — which Roth called the best in the state — the Eagles will have an advantage in the paint nearly every game, and that was true on Saturday with a 28-14 edge in the lane. However, it was the difference in efficiency from the 3-point line that made the difference. Milford shot 9-for-21 (42.9%) while the Clippers fired up 12 more attempts to end with one less make.

“Four players in double figures, five different players hit 3s … That’s huge; 3-pointers are separators,” Roth said. “You have to have some shooting, especially when teams scheme you. When they started to drop to that zone, if you’re not able to do the things that [Kylie Jakub] did, it makes it a tough night. They’re trying to take something away and we got really clean, good looks. The girls did a good job of moving it and finding them and stepping in rhythm and knocking them down.”

What Jakub did was go 4-for-8 from downtown, with two of those triples coming in the fourth quarter as the Eagles pulled away. Roth, one of just two seniors on the team, finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in her final game in a Milford jersey. She was on the team last year when Milford lost in the final.

“It’s definitely full circle,” Jakub said. “It sucks being on the other side of this. It’s terrible. But knowing how it felt during volleyball, it gives you more momentum to get that again because you don’t want to feel falling short again.”

Miller led the Eagles with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Rautenberg added 16 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks, her 25th double-double of the season in 28 games. She pulled down 51 rebounds in three games in Lincoln. Sophomore guard Abby Crabtree added 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The Clippers finish as runners-up in their first state championship appearance. Halle Dolliver capped her Malcolm career with 22 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks, three assists and three steals. Payton Dolliver, a sophomore, chipped in 13 points and five boards

>> Third-Place Game: No. 5 Gothenburg 69, No. 7 Fort Calhoun 64

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Milford SO Shayla Rautenberg: 12.3 PPG, 84.6% FT, 17.0 RPG (6.7 ORPG), 2.7 BPG

>> Milford SO Abby Crabtree: 14.3 PPG, 58.3% 3FG, 76.9% FT, 5.3 APG, 4.3 RPG, 2.0 SPG

>> Malcolm SR Halle Dolliver: 23.7 PPG, 84.2% FT, 15.0 RPG (2.7 ORPG), 3.0 BPG, 2.3 APG

>> Malcolm SO Payton Dolliver: 23.0 PPG, 52.3% FG, 91.3% FT, 6.7 RPG (2.3 ORPG)

>> Gothenburg SR Halsey Thomalla: 25.7 PPG

 

CLASS A

No. 1 Lincoln North Star 51, No. 3 Omaha North 35

The Navigators avenged their only loss of the season to finish 26-1 and claim the first girls basketball state championship in school history.

The title caps an incredible run for North Star’s senior class, including two four-year starters in Omaha commit Ani Leu and Kendall Anderson, a UNK pledge. Five years ago, Tommy Johnson took over as head coach, with the program in a tough spot. Now, he and the Gators are champions after a 27-1 season.

“Even after the game, I said, ‘I can’t believe we won,’ and I think Alex Kroll was like, ‘What do you mean?’” Johnson said. “But no, I can’t believe we’re in this situation. We had a remarkable turnaround. First year before they came, we were 4-19, and then ever since then, we’re state tournament after state tournament.”

The Navigators won 17 games and made the state tournament when Leu and Anderson were freshmen. The next two seasons, they made it to the state semifinals before falling to Millard West, who won the title both seasons. This year, the Gators returned the favor to the Wildcats on Friday then finished the job on Saturday afternoon.

The Vikings won the regular season meeting at Omaha North, 53-45 on Jan. 23, while dominating in the paint and on the offensive glass. On Saturday, the Gators held their own in the rebounding battle and inside, outscoring the Vikings by two in second-chance points and by four in the paint while also finishing plus-six from both the 3-point arc and the foul line.

Omaha North coach Michaela Dailey said free-throw shooting and turnovers made the difference. The Vikings left 10 points at the charity stripe and turned the ball over 21 times against North Star’s aggressive 1-3-1 zone defense.

“Our loss earlier in the season, obviously, we were a very different team back then,” Leu said. “I knew we just had to forget about that and remember how much we worked from that game to be in the championship and just use what we learned in practice and what our coaching staff has been telling us this whole season.”

The rematch got off to an inauspicious start for the Gators, who missed their first nine shots from the field. However, they settled in and only trailed by one heading into the second quarter.

The Vikings opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run, including five straight from junior Himayajo Metoyer. Leu scored a put-back to get the Gators on the board nearly two and a half minutes into the quarter, sparking a 7-0 run to cut the deficit back to two.

Then the game changed. Metoyer, who had scored 10 of North’s first 17 points and assisted another four, went down clutching her ankle in paint after a North Star offensive rebound. She spent a couple minutes on the ground before someone carried her back to the locker room.

Without her on the floor, North Star closed the half on an 8-1 run to take a 23-18 lead. The Vikings turned the ball over seven times in the last four and a half minutes without their point guard.

“Great player, amazing player, amazing kid,” Johnson said of Metoyer’s exit. “When she when she came out, I thought that shifted a lot … I think that did take some momentum from them, for sure. I also thought we smelled blood in the water a little bit defensively, and we really, really amped it up. The girls, they do that on their own. It’s not us making a call or anything. It’s them making plays and making things happen.”

Offense was a struggle for both teams to start the third quarter, with one point apiece in the first four and a half minutes. However, Metoyer returned to the bench a few minutes into the half then checked back into the game to a roaring ovation from the Omaha North crowd. She played eight minutes in the second half despite visibly limping on the court.

“She’s tough,” Dailey said. “She’s a warrior. She’s tough and the heart of our team, and that really affected our players mentally because she’s our spark, she’s a leader to us … I love the fact that Jo wanted to really try and come back and produce for us, for her team. Even as you see her out there, she was struggling to limp, but she was still going to try to make something happen.”

The offense picked up over the final few minutes, and North Star closed the period with four straight free throws to take a 34-25 lead into the fourth. Anderson opened the final period with a 3-pointer to push the lead to double figures, where it remained the rest of the way.

After a 1-for-7 start from 3, Anderson drilled her last three triples to help put the Vikings away. She finished with 14 points and six rebounds.

“They weren’t quite falling at first, but everyone’s telling me to keep shooting, and once they go, it’s great feeling,” Anderson said. “I think it also sparks our defense and just keeps everyone alive.”

Leu capped her Navigator career with one of her best performances of the season, finishing with 20 points on 7-of-11 from the field and 6-of-10 from the line, 10 rebounds and four steals.

Despite playing just 19 minutes — and hobbling through the last eight — Metoyer led the Vikings with 15 points. Junior T’Niyah Wilson-Smith notched her third straight double-digit rebounding game in Lincoln, finishing with 10 boards, six points, four assists and three steals. The Vikings finish 26-5 — the first winning season for the program since 2017-18.

“Overall, this moment, this experience means everything to them and to us,” Dailey said. “We got this far. This is a big stage, back-to-back games, our bodies are tired, injuries happen, so my returners, they just need to soak in the moment and want to work hard to get back here next year.”

The Vikings have received tremendous fan support all season, and Saturday was no exception. The atmosphere for the championship was electric with packed stands on both sides. Among those in the crowd were champion boxer Bud Crawford and Omaha mayor John Ewing Jr., delivering on a promise he made to the team earlier in the year.

“The experience has been so joyful, to have just the city behind us, OPS behind us, our community behind us,” Dailey said. “Throughout this entire season, it was just ‘Let’s continue to make history. Let’s continue to make history. This is something big that the whole community needs.’ These girls worked their butts off. They worked their butts off to get to this moment. Despite us losing, we are proud that we got them here, and we are proud that our community is walking behind us.

“I am very proud of what we did. It means everything to our team. It means everything to our coaching staff. I am so thankful for everybody that’s been a part of this journey. Now, we put North High on the map.”

As post-game press conference moderator Stu Pospisil began to thank the Gators for their time and sign off, Johnson interjected with a final message of respect for the Vikings and everything they accomplished this season.

“I do want to say, Omaha North and what they did for the girls basketball community was amazing,” Johnson said. “I thought they set the stage for an amazing Class A girls basketball state championship. We both did our part, we both made it here, and that’s kind of what we said before the tipoff, that we both made it here. Whatever happens at the end, we love that we did this for the basketball community here in Nebraska; two public schools going at it was amazing.”

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Lincoln North Star SR Ani Leu: 14.3 PPG, 50% FG, 8.0 RPG, 4.0 APG, 3.3 APG, 1.3 BPG

>> Lincoln North Star SR K.J. Pinchon: 11.0 PPG, 35.3% 3FG, 5.7 RPG, 3.3 SPG

>> Omaha North JR Himayajo Metoyer: 16.3 PPG, 82.4% FT

>> Omaha North JR T’Niyah Wilson-Smith: 9.7 PPG, 13.7 RPG (3.7 ORPG), 2.7 APG, 2.3 SPG, 1.3 BPG

>> Millard West SR Kylee Paben: 17.0 PPG, 45.8% FG (38.9% 3FG), 6.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 2.0 SPG

 

CLASS C2

No. 1 Pender 63, No. 2 Elkhorn Valley 48

The Pender seniors completed the career sweep of state titles by winning their fourth straight. The streak of four consecutive championships ties the fourth-longest streak by any school, and the Pendragons became the first team to win four in a row in multiple classes (C2 in 2023 and 2026, D1 in 2024 and 2025).

To win their fourth, they had to go through an unbeaten Elkhorn Valley team that earned a spot in the C2 championship game for the second straight year. The contest was close early, but a strong finish to the second quarter and a dominant third turned it into a rout.

“We knew Elkhorn Valley was going to be a tough team,” Pender coach Jason Dolliver said. “They haven’t been beaten all season, so we knew we needed to be ready. The girls, all season long, have been laser focused, regardless of who the opponent is. They stepped out from the get-go, and it was nice to not be down 7-0 start the game. These kids wanted this so bad, and they were ready, they prepared for I, and it’s so awesome to see when they go out there and do it.”

Senior Hadley Walsh put a cap on her prolific career with a whale of a game, finishing with 25 points on 8-of-15 from the field and 8-8 from the line, eight rebounds and four steals. The Fort Hays State commit ends her Pender career with over 1,200 career points and four state titles.

“I feel like every game I’ve been able to look at my teammates and them say to me they’ve got my back,” Walsh said of her Pendragon journey. “I just feel so blessed to be a part of a team with a group of girls that care so much about me and about my friends and about my family. I really do think I could say that we love each other. Just looking back over these past four years, I feel like every game I’ve got to play with them has been such amazing opportunity.”

The Pender dynasty has been a family affair with Dolliver coaching his daughters. Senior Madalyn has played on all four title teams, while older sister Maya, a freshman at Sioux Falls, led the charge for the first three. This season, freshman Mayci has stepped into Maya’s place at the starting point guard spot.

Saturday’s game was tight throughout the first period, but Pender used a 10-2 run late in the second to build a 12-point lead. The Pendragons took a 32-24 edge into halftime then blew the game wide open in the third, outscoring the Falcons 20-5.

Pender opened the period with a layup from Walsh, then got Madalyn Dolliver a clean look from 3, which is all she needed to see. Dolliver went 4-for-4 from deep in the quarter as the Pendragons continued to feed the hot hand.

“We had a set play drawn up, and so everybody executed it,” Coach Dolliver said. “We had five girls on the court who did their job to perfection, and she was able to catch it and knock it down. Once we see that happen, we’re like, ‘OK, we’re gonna run another one, we’re gonna run another one.’ Every one of those was a set play where five girls on the court did their job to perfection, and it ended in a great look. The pass, the screens, the setup beforehand, and that’s what’s so cool to see is a team that can just execute a play. It’s a huge weapon.”

Dolliver finished the game with 24 points, shooting 7-for-12 from 3 to tie the Class C2 single-game state tournament record. She already held the D1 (and all-class) record after burying nine triples in the first round of the 2025 tournament. Madalyn ends her career with 1,316 points and 367 3-pointers and will play with her sister again next season at Sioux Falls.

The Falcons went 28-1 to finish as Class C2 runner-up for the second year in a row. Junior Cameron Rutjens led the way with 14 points and four 3-pointers while freshman Kayton Werner added 13 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line.

>> Third-Place Game: No. 4 Yutan 47, No. 6 Guardian Angels Central Catholic 44

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Pender SR Hadley Walsh: 19.3 PPG, 100% FT, 9.3 RPG, 2.7 APG, 2.0 SPG

>> Pender SR Madalyn Dolliver: 14.3 PPG, 48.1% 3FG, 2.7 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.3 SPG

>> Elkhorn Valley JR Cameron Rutjens: 13.7 PPG, 36.4% 3FG, 4.3 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.3 SPG

>> Yutan SR Mylee Tichota: 16.3 PPG

>> Guardian Angels Central Catholic SO Bailey Gerths: 15.3 PPG

 

CLASS B

No. 2 Bennington 49, No. 4 Gretna East 38

The Badgers rode a hot start on both ends of the floor to the first girls basketball state championship in program history. Bennington led for all but the first 26 seconds on the way to cutting down the nets in front of a deep and raucous cheering section at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

“I think that that’s something we’ve all wanted to do since we were kids, and all of us being from Bennington means so much to us,” junior Harper Bohaboj said of being the first team to win a title. “Being able to come out here and get the win in front of a huge crowd, our community really supported us, and we really appreciate it, with all the fans and our friends and our parents and people who we love. We really felt the support, and they brought it for us, so it was really awesome.”

On top of making history, Bennington also became the only team this season to go undefeated. Three squads entered the state tournament without a loss, and only the Badgers cut down the net, finishing the season 28-0.

“It’s such a long season, it’s such a grind, that to do it day by day in the EMC conference against some very, very tough opponents, to do it down at the state tournament, it’s just a credit to these guys for taking it one day at a time, not looking too far in advance,” Bennington coach John O’Connor said. “We knew at the beginning of the season this is something we wanted to accomplish, and in order to do that, we had to narrow our focus down to one game at a time kind of mentality, and credit these guys for doing that.”

Bennington couldn’t have asked for a better start as sophomore star Macie Reiner opened the game with a pair of 3s, part of an 8-0 run and a 17-2 start to the game. The Griffins missed 13 of their first 14 shots while the Badgers made seven of their first 10. Bohaboj called the start “super important.”

“We had a lot of girls that stepped up in different moments,” Bohaboj said. “I think Macie did a great job of starting us off strong with those two 3s, and then from there our offense just kind of carried, and it really sparked from our defense. I think that’s something we really hang our hat on, and that’s super important to us.”

The Badgers led 17-4 after one, an advantage that proved pivotal as they went ice-cold in the second period, scoring five points on 2-for-10 shooting with seven turnovers. Gretna took advantage to trim the deficit to six at halftime.

Bennington took control again in the second half with its defense, holding the Griffins without a point for the first 4:15 of the third period and using a 9-0 run to extend the lead to 15.

Gretna East used a 10-0 run to pull within five, but junior Haydin Jackson and Reiner closed out the period with a pair of 3s in the final minute. The Griffins made one more push in the fourth, cutting it to five again, but Reiner slammed the door shut by scoring nine points during a 10-5 finish to the game for the Badgers.

“I just want to give credit to Gretna East on a great season,” O’Connor said. “Conference opponent, and they had a great game plan, Coach Wade [Coulter] does a great job with them. These girls just it’s been an honor to be their coach and I’m proud of them for stepping up in the big moments.”

Reiner finished with 23 points, five assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block. She shot 8-for-11 from the field including 5-for-5 from deep, a new career best. High-volume 3-point shooting hasn’t been the strength of the talented underclassman’s game, but O’Connor said he wasn’t surprised to see what she did.

“She works on those shots at practice when we’re scrimmaging,” O’Connor said. “When we’re playing hard, these girls push each other. A lot of girls that aren’t up here right now push her at practice to get her better, and then when she needs to make shots in big moments like that, she’s ready.”

Reiner previously made three triples in Bennington’s district final against Crete and only had three other games in her two-year career with multiple made 3s, but she let it fly confidently on Saturday.

“When the first couple went in, it felt really good, and I was like, if I keep getting the ball I’m just going to keep shooting and helping my team out to win,” Reiner said.

With only two seniors on the roster, Bennington is poised to make another run at a title next season. However, they’ll have to do so in Class A as the Badgers move up a class for the next two-year cycle.

“It’s a great honor to leave Class B for a couple years as state champions,” O’Connor said. “Class A is going to be a gauntlet; there are so many good teams there as well, and so it’ll be a great challenge for us in the future.”

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Bennington SO Macie Reiner: 15.3 PPG, 54.3% FG (45.5% 3FG), 100% FT, 8.0 RPG (2.3 ORPG), 5.0 APG, 3.0 SPG

>> Bennington JR Harper Bohaboj: 10.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 3.0 SPG, 2.3 APG

>> Gretna East JR Madi Shelburne: 13.7 PPG, 9.3 RPG (2.7 ORPG), 3.0 APG, 2.0 SPG

>> Lincoln Pius X SR Kate Miller: 13.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG (5.5 ORPG)

>> Norris SR Ize Tidball: 13.5 PPG, 64.7% FG (50% 3FG), 80% FT, 6.5 RPG (2.5 ORPG), 3.5 APG, 2.5 SPG

 

CLASS D1

No. 6 Howells-Dodge 45, No. 1 Bloomfield 42

Howells-Dodge blitzed Bloomfield from the opening tip to build an early lead then survived a late rally to secure the program’s second state championship.

Bloomfield had been a wagon all season, entering Saturday’s final 28-0 with 27 double-digit wins (22 of them by 20-plus). Yet the Jaguars punched them in the face as soon as the game started, opening with a 16-0 run including three 3s and a three-point play to start. The cushion that start created proved to be just enough to overcome a fierce fourth-quarter rally.

“This whole season, Bloomfield was just kind of sitting there undefeated,” Howells-Dodge coach Scott Polacek said. “It had to be hard for them to deal with that the whole year, and to come down here, I have to give them credit. They battled every single second of this game. Some teams would have kind of just let us take control, and they battled back so hard. You have to give [Kennedy Mlady] and [Madyson Mlady] on their team so much praise for how strong they just kept fighting and fighting and fighting. We just made enough baskets, a couple free throws, to ice it.”

As Polacek said, the Queen Bees didn’t fold, despite little seeming to go their way. There was a lid on the rim for star sophomore Madyson Mlady, who missed her first nine shots from the field. Little sister Kennedy Mlady picked up the slack, rallying the Bees to within five late in the second quarter.

Bloomfield trailed by seven at halftime, with the younger Mlady scoring 11 of her team’s 16 and accounting for all five of its made field goals. Howells-Dodge stretched it back out with a strong start to the third quarter then kept the Bees at a comfortable difference for most of the half.

Howells-Dodge led by 14 two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter, then Madyson Mlady joined the party. She finished inside for her first bucket of the game, an and-one. The Mlady sisters and the Jaguars traded buckets for a bit, then Howells-Dodge went cold. A layup from junior Kylie Brichacek made it 45-33 Jags with three and a half to play, but Howells-Dodge didn’t score again.

Bloomfield put together a 9-0 run (five by Kennedy, four by Madyson) to pull within three and had the ball out of a timeout with 10 seconds left. Looking for the tie, Bloomfield ran Madyson Mlady through an elevator screen, and for a brief second it looked like she’d have space to launch the tying 3-pointer. However, freshman Brynn Throener managed to fight around the screen and get a hand up at the last second, forcing Mlady to put the ball on the deck — with nowhere to go. She had to settle for an off-balance prayer with a couple seconds left that wasn’t close.

“All Mr. P said was ‘Don’t foul,’ so that’s what I did,” Throener said. “I stayed straight up.”

Throener, who led the team with 12 points in the semifinals, followed with 10 points on 3-of-6 from the field (2-of-4 from 3) and 2-of-2 from the line while making the biggest defensive play of the game.

The star for Howells-Dodge was Brichacek, who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds one day after playing just 13 minutes before fouling out against Elm Creek in the semis. She played all but 36 seconds of the game.

“Yesterday, sitting on the bench, you can only cheer from there,” Brichacek said. “Today, come out stronger and do it for your team.”

Kennedy Mlady led Bloomfield with 25 points on 8-of-14 from the field (1-of-2 from 3) and 8-of-9 from the foul line, 10 rebounds and six steals. Madyson Mlady came alive late with 10 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, surpassing 1,000 career points in just two seasons in the process. She also grabbed 10 rebounds and two steals.

Four one seeds and a two seed won the first five championships on Saturday. The Jaguars were the outlier as a six seed, but Polacek said the seven losses they took during the regular season prepared them to make a championship run.

“In the East Husker Conference, it’s trial by fire, baby, I’ll tell you that,” Polacek said. “Oakland, Pender, North Bend, those guys are so tough. Most of the time they beat us, but we learned something from every one of those … These girls, they showed a lot of grit, because we lost three games out of four right before subdistricts. I told them we just have to go on a streak and win six in a row, and they were able to do that.”

>> Third-Place Game: No. 2 Elm Creek 56, No. 5 Sutton 54

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Howells-Dodge JR Kylie Brichacek: 12.0 PPG, 46.2% FG (37.5% 3FG), 9.3 RPG, 2.7 SPG

>> Howells-Dodge FR Brynn Throener: 11.3 PPG, 52% FG (46.2% 3FG), 100% FT, 3.7 APG, 2.0 SPG

>> Bloomfield SO Madyson Mlady: 18.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG (4.0 ORPG), 2.3 SPG

>> Bloomfield FR Kennedy Mlady: 19.0 PPG, 54.1% FG, 7.0 RPG (3.3 ORPG), 5.7 APG, 5.3 SPG

>> Elm Creek JR Kendal Cavenee: 14.7 PPG