Playoff Recap: First Round Winners

It's one of the best times of the year as the Playoffs are finally upon us. In this article we discuss five players that killed it in their First Round matchups. Each prospect helped lead their team to a big victory and onto Round #2.   Thanks for tuning in and enjoy!    The St. Mary's Cardinals moved to 22-2 on the season after their impressive win on Tuesday evening. In this win, they had a number of prospects post impressive stat lines but the one that stands out the most would be from [player_tooltip player_id='1116158' first='Pyper' last='Ickes']. At the PG position, Ickes held her own and played very efficient basketball. She finished the night with 17 points on 6-9 shooting, she grabbed 6 rebounds, dished out 9 assists, and took away 2 steals. This was an impressive showing from all parties involved. They had a big win and Ickes made her case for as to why she should be considered to be ranked within our next 2027 Class Update come March.     <a href="https://www.maxpreps.com/ne/neligh/neligh-oakdale-warriors/">Neligh-Oakdale</a> won a nail bitter in their last contest with a final of 44-31 against the Creighton Bulldogs in their first round of the Playoffs. The leader at the end of the night for the Warriors was [player_tooltip player_id='1197559' first='Jaycee' last='Gadeken']. Gadeken led the team in scoring and rebounding, posting a double-double with 10 points (5-18) and 13 rebounds. This wasn't the most efficient stat line of the evening but taking into consideration the rebounding side of things, it was the most impactful. Looking toward the future and their next contest does not get any easier so if this group wants to continue to win, they will have to tighten some stuff up. A task that is definitely achievable.     One of the most impressive stat lines of the past couple of months occurred on Tuesday when HTRS High School beat Sterling. In this event, Center - [player_tooltip player_id='820523' first='Elie' last='Bstandig'] did whatever she wanted on both ends. She finished things with 22 points (11-21) and 22 rebounds. A 22 & 22 game is impressive. Those numbers take heart, Will power, and great conditioning to be able to stay on the court for a majority of the time. This might not be the best performance of the high school season within Nebraska but it's definitely up there so far.     [player_tooltip player_id='882865' first='Jo' last='Metoyer'] is currently in the conversation for being the #1 2028 prospect out of Nebraska because of her advanced skill-set and her ability to impact a game. When I first saw Metoyer compete this Winter in Iowa, I was blown away. Her skill-set as a guard is quick, in control, and very crafty. She is a player that doesn't get caught up in corners or bad situations while dribbling, instead she stays with space around her and controls what is unfolding in front of her. In Westside's first win of the Playoffs, they beat Elkhorn South by a good amount. Metoyer was second on her team in scoring with 13 points (6-12), along with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 steals. Westside is going to be able to win some more games looking toward their schedule if they stay locked in. They have all the pieces to make a big run. Now it's all about actually making it happen.     In a contest that only combined for a total of 66 points, [player_tooltip player_id='766584' first='Madison' last='Bunger'] of Wilcox-Hildreth had 23 of them. Bunger, a 6'0 Center, usually dominates her matchups because of her mixture of size, strength, and coordination. That's really what happened here. The Falcons just had too many weapons for the Wolves to handle on that side of things and that led to a big Playoff victory of 51-16 earlier this week. I'm not sure if Bunger has offers or interest to play at the next level but she does bring a lot of positive things to the floor. That was obvious in this contest and I'm sure it'll be obvious until the last game of her high school career.

It's one of the best times of the year as the Playoffs are finally upon us. In this article we discuss five players that killed it in their First Round matchups. Each prospect helped lead their team to a big victory and onto Round #2.