As the Lincoln North Star girls basketball team walked back into the locker room following Thursday’s senior night win over Bellevue West, emotions got the best of Coach Tommy Johnson.
The Gators, No. 1 in the NebPreps Computer Ratings and No. 2 in the Coaches Poll, rolled No. 11 Bellevue West 50-31, then the school honored its seniors for both the girls and boys basketball teams. Following the ceremony, the girls walked back through the inflatable Gator tunnel and down the hallway to the locker room, where Johnson needed a moment to compose himself before addressing his team — and especially his seniors.
That class includes two four-year starters in Ani Leu and Kendall Anderson, who each scored 17 points to lead the way on senior night.
“They didn’t have to come to North Star,” Johnson said. “They didn’t have to be here. My first year here, when I was the first-year head coach here, the whole group left. If people know the history of that, the whole group left. So for Ani and Kendall to come sit in the stands in eighth grade and watch North Star get ran by 60s and whatever, getting running-clocked off all eighth-grade year, for them to still be like, ‘Yo, we want to come here still,’ Ani and Kendall, they hold a special place in my heart.”
North Star went 4-19 during Johnson’s first season as head coach in 2021-22. Leu and Anderson enrolled the following year and both averaged double figures as freshmen, leading the Gators to a 17-8 record and a state tournament appearance. North Star won 20 games in 2023-24 and 19 last season, reaching the state semifinals both years. After Thursday’s win, the Gators are 19-1 and leading Class A in wildcard points by a significant margin.
Leu, an Omaha basketball signee, had a double-double wrapped up by the end of the third quarter and finished with 13 rebounds (five offensive) and three steals to go with her 17 points. She’s racked up 1,265 points, 421 rebounds, 339 steals and 293 assists and counting in her career and is averaging 13.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.2 steals and 3.5 assists as a senior. Leu also delivered the game-winning layup to lift the Gators past Lincoln Southwest in the HAC Tournament championship last Saturday.
“I think she’s had like three triple-double games,” Johnson said. “When you get that, you’re getting somebody that’s playing selfless basketball. She’s attacking the glass and she might end up with 13 rebounds or maybe five offensive rebounds, but she attacked the class probably 15 times to get those five. So [Omaha is] getting a selfless player, and they’re getting somebody that can change the program too.”
Anderson is closing in on 900 career points, and she’s knocked down more than 200 3-pointers in her career. She shot 5-of-12 from deep while grabbing six rebounds and three steals against the Thunderbirds Thursday, and she’ll continue playing at Nebraska-Kearney next year.
Johnson also spoke highly of his other seniors in K.J. Pinchon, McKenna Powell, Jayma Naber and Brooke Neemann. Powell transferred from Malcolm to North Star last year while Naber and Neemann worked their way up, playing at every level of the program and sticking it out, something not a lot of kids do.
As for Pinchon, she’s a starter averaging 11.8 points and shooting 40.7% from 3. The 6-foot guard with Division-I offers from Stephen F. Austin and Wichita State moved to Lincoln from Garden City, Kansas, to be with her mom. She was a late addition as Johnson learned about her a week before school started, but she’s fit right in with the Gators.
“KJ has added the ability to be a deep threat,” Johnson said. “After losing Sarah Gatwech, she replaced those point total numbers, but she replaced it in a tougher way for defenses to be able to guard. Last year, [Gatwech] had to be close to the rim and to get her stuff off, or off the drive. K.J. Pinchon stretches the floor, but she’s also willing to stack her game. She’ll go on the block, which I don’t think she’s ever really done, she’ll go on the block and then stretch out, stretch the floor. But that’s what K.J. brings, her ability to stretch the floor.”
Johnson made it through the senior ceremony without any issues, but the tears began to flow just outside the locker room thinking about those six seniors.
“It was just emotional, man,” Johnson said. “It’s just hard to think, like, what is North Star going to look like? It feels like they’ve been in high school for years, like they’ve been playing in this league for years. So super emotional.”
After a bumpy start to the season, the Thunderbirds had been playing as well as anyone, winning six of their last seven with the lone loss coming to a good Omaha Westview team by one point. Bellevue West rose up to No. 11 in our latest Class A Computer Ratings, and North Star only led by one midway through the second period. Johnson said he was impressed with the Thunderbirds’ passing ability as they tried to navigate playing against North Star’s vaunted 1-3-1 zone defense.
However, the Gators eventually pulled away, using a 17-4 run to take control.
“Bell West, they made us adjust,” Johnson said. “People think we’re just a 1-3-1 team; we’re really not. The gist of what we do is 1-3-1, but people don’t know we’re moving in and out of different defenses.”
The Gators held Bellevue West to 20.5% from the field and forced 16 turnovers to pull away. Through 20 games, they’re allowing just 32.6 points per game, holding 13 teams under 40 points and five under 20.
“We hang our hats on defense,” Johnson said. “When we’re going through our report, we scout heavy, so the girls know what number is which. And then their hands, just active hands. Our zone is so big; sometimes we’ve got four 6-footers out there and [5-foot-5 point guard] Joyce [Johnson], and Joyce is the brute of it all, so she’s going to bring the physicality to the zone.”
North Star’s lone loss came to a full-strength Omaha North team in the Vikings’ home gym, 53-45 on Jan. 23. The Vikings rose to No. 1 in the NebPreps Coaches Poll after that game, and Johnson viewed the game as a valuable measuring stick. The Gators also have a pair of one-point wins, including the HAC championship.
“They’re a crazy, really good team, and that was the whole goal was to go into Omaha North and learn and let them give us a basketball teaching lesson on physicality, toughness,” Johnson said. “North’s ability to come together as one is pretty cool. I can’t lie, It’s pretty cool to see … We’ve had a lot of lessons learned. The good thing about it is we had lessons learned in some close wins. I think those taught us a lot. I think the Omaha North loss was really one that showed us that there’s another level to this.”
The finishing stretch for the regular season isn’t an easy won as the Gators will take on a 16th-ranked Elkhorn South team that is more talented than its 8-9 record indicates on Feb. 12, a 14-3 Lincoln Pius X team ranked third in Class B on Feb. 17 and No. 13 Millard South (9-9) on Feb. 19 before district play begins. Johnson is looking for his team to put it all together and finish strong — while also enjoying the ride.
“We can lose on any given night; I think any of us can lose on any given night,” Johnson said. “So it makes for a good district seedings. The main thing is try to pull off a good district seeding. We still have a tough stretch … At the end of the day, I want to see the girls really enjoy this. Just take it in, enjoy it. I remember when we first started, we told ourselves that we’re going to move the fear out the door and we’re going to take this one day, one week at a time. That’s why you get those memories.
“I wouldn’t be that emotional, and we wouldn’t be that emotional with each other if we’re just looking at the end result. We’re trying to get the byproduct of what we want to be at the end of the day.”
