This Week in Nebraska Girl’s Basketball-December 30th, 2019

THE WEEK THAT WAS:  It’s holiday tournament time!  Although sometimes the holiday tournament play and execution can be a little choppy due to coming off the five day moratorium, there were a lot of really nice match-ups, especially some cross-class match-ups.  Wynot, a terrific C-2 program, came up with a very nice 45-38 win over previously undefeated Class B York.  Falls City Sacred Heart gained a bit of revenge against Nebraska City Lourdes, and Lincoln Christian was crowned champion of the Wavelry Holiday Tournament with a 14 point win over South Sioux City. THREE THINGS I LIKE:

1. Class B is turning into a race between Crete and everyone else.  The Cardinals dominated Grand Island Northwest at the Doane Holiday Tournament, with Morgan Maly Morgan Maly 6'1" | SF Crete | 2020 State NE (more on her in a bit) showing why she is perhaps the cream of the crop of this years senior class.  Barring injuries, Crete looks like the running away favorite in Class B.
2. Class C1 is as deep as Class B is top heavy.  There are many teams that are in contention, with North Bend and Chadron looking to give Lincoln Christian a great run for their money by the end of the season.
3. In Class D2, Sterling gets a huge win over Weeping Water at the Weeping Water holiday tournament.  After losing most of its scoring on last years team, the Jets are 6-2 and have moved up to fifth in wild card points in Class D2.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Creighton commit Morgan Maly Morgan Maly 6'1" | SF Crete | 2020 State NE continues to dominate the competition for the Crete Cardinals, who moved to 7-0 after hammering Grand Island Northwest, 45-31, in the finals of the Doane Holiday Tournament.  Maly had 28 against the Vikings, including a half court shot that ended the first quarter with the Cardinals up 16-0.  She is showing the maturity and maximizing the potential that folks have seen in her since her freshman year, and she will be in the running for the state player of the year at this pace. GAME OF THE WEEK –> LINCOLN-OMAHA CORRIDOR: There are actually two games of the week this week, but we don’t know what the match-ups will exactly be at this point.  The Metro Conference tournament heats up on Monday and Tuesday with eight first round games on Monday, then four quarterfinals on Tuesday.  If chalk holds, we’ll have Millard South, Papillion LaVista, Omaha Westside and Omaha Burke looking to make Thursday’s semi-finals.  In the Heartland Athletic Conference, Lincoln Pius X, Lincoln Northeast, Fremont and Lincoln East will battle it out for supremacy in their conference.  Should be a great week for Class A basketball. GAME OF THE WEEK –> STATE-WIDE: The best game of the week lines up on Friday night when Superior heads out to Utica (Centennial) to take on the Broncos.  Kalynn Meyer leads the 7-1 Wildcats with 20 points and almost 15 rebounds a game, while Hannah Benedict Hannah Benedict 5'7" | SG Seward | 2022 State NE adds 16 a night.  Centennial is led by Kate Hirschfeld Kate Hirschfeld 5'8" | SF Centennial | 2021 State NE , who is giving the 6-2 Broncos 16 points a night.  Knocking off Superior would be huge for Centennial in the wild card points standings. Honorable Mention: Blair at Bennington (Friday, 1/3), Boone Central/ Newman Grove at Kearney Catholic (Friday, 1/3), North Bend at Milford (Friday, 1/3), Bennington at South Sioux City (Saturday, 1/4) CLASS A ELITE EIGHT: Millard South, Lincoln East, Westside, Papillion LaVista, Lincoln Northeast, Fremont, Lincoln Pius X, North Platte CLASS B ELITE EIGHT: Grand Island Northwest, Crete, Omaha Gross Catholic, Beatrice, Platteview, Bennington, Scottsbluff, York CLASS C1 ELITE EIGHT: Broken Bow, North Bend-Central, Lincoln Chrisitan, Milford, Ogallala, Kearney Catholic, St. Paul, Chadron CLASS C2 ELITE EIGHT: Hastings St. Cecilia, Crofton, Fillmore Central, Grand Island Central Catholic, Nebraska City Lourdes, Oakland-Craig, Centennial (Utica), Superior CLASS D1 ELITE EIGHT: CWC, Weeping Water, Pleasanton, Dundy County-Stratton, Humphery/ Lindsay Holy Family, Johnson-Brock, Fremont Bergan, Pender CLASS D2 ELITE EIGHT: Falls City Sacred Heart, Ewing, Humphery St. Francis, Wynot, BDS, Sterling, Lawrence-Nelson, Cody-Kilgore