Class A: Knights claim state title
Saturday's Class A tournament results:
Championship: Lincoln Southeast 60, Millard West 44
Finally, a girls state basketball tournament championship game tape Lincoln Southeast’s Marissa Kastanek can watch.
Earlier in the season, Kastanek’s fight to gain eligibility after transferring from Crete in late October gained state-wide notoriety. Saturday night, it was the 5-foot-9 junior’s performance on the Devaney Sports Center court that put her in the Nebraska spotlight.
Kastanek scored 23 points, and senior guard Katie Birkel added 20 to pace the top-ranked Knights to a 60-44 victory against Millard West in the Class A title game. The win capped a 26-1 season for the Knights, who won their ninth state championship, all under Coach John Larsen. Millard West finishes 24-2.
A year ago, things didn’t go as well for Kastanek when Crete lost to Alliance in the Class B title game.
“I watched that tape in October before the season started and it was horrid,” said Kastanek, who also had seven rebounds and seven steals Saturday. “I’ll watch this one every day, if I can.”
Like Southeast’s 66-41 victory against No. 4 Millard North in Friday’s semifinals, the Knights hit on all cylinders. Their full-court pressure defense hounded the taller Wildcats into 25 turnovers, and with the frantic pace of the game, the Knights were either shooting layups or three-pointers.
Southeast’s quickness advantage even neutralized Millard West’s size by chasing down 12 offensive rebounds. That contributed to 23 more shot attempts by the Knights (58-35).
Larsen thought his players saved their best for last.
“The kids were really focused all week in practice and it showed in how they played here (at the tournament),’’ Larsen said. “Defensively, we wanted to pressure them and get the pace of the game up. Offensively, we spread them out, dribble-penetrated and kicked it out for threes. The kids executed it really well.”
One night after hitting 13 three-pointers against Millard North, Southeast buried 10 from beyond the arc in the finals. Birkel led the way with five threes. Kastanek, 10-of-18 from the field, connected on three three-pointers.
Kastanek scored nine of Southeast’s first 11 points as the Knights sprinted to a seven-point lead in the first 3 minutes, 10 seconds. They never looked back.
Southeast led 19-7 after one quarter and 32-18 at intermission. Birkel then helped ice it in the third quarter, exploding for 10 points as the Knights went on a 16-2 spurt in the first four minutes of the period to build a 48-20 cushion. Birkel hit her first three three-pointers of the second half.
“We were hoping they (the Knights) wouldn’t play like they did last night, but they did,” Millard West coach Kip Colony said. “Southeast is the Cadillac of Class A. They’re so quick with three Division I guards, they’re tough to stop. We needed 10 kids to guard them.”
The third member of that backcourt, junior all-stater KK Houser, sparked the Southeast attack with six assists and three steals to go with eight points. Haley Lake contributed seven points and five assists while nailing all three shots she attempted.
“We bonded so well these last two days,’’ Houser said. “Everyone was scoring and contributing offensively and everyone played great defense. It’s a strong team.’’
Senior Heather Pohl was the Wildcats’ only double-figure scorer, with 15 points. The Wildcats’ inability to get the ball inside to their 6-foot front line of Pohl, senior Courtney Janecek and sophomore Alison Janecek frustrated Colony.
“I thought our high-low was there several times and we just didn’t take advantage of it,” Colony said. “We didn’t get the ball inside as much as I thought we could.’’
--Ron Powell
Third place: Millard North 46, Kearney 43
Millard North’s Melissa MacFarlane scored 17 points, 12 in the first half, to lead the Mustangs to a 46-43 win against Kearney. Millard North took a 29-16 halftime lead and held on despite being outscored 27-17 in the second half. Nicole Arp led the Bearcats with 17 points.
Championship: Lincoln Southeast 60, Millard West 44
Finally, a girls state basketball tournament championship game tape Lincoln Southeast’s Marissa Kastanek can watch.
Earlier in the season, Kastanek’s fight to gain eligibility after transferring from Crete in late October gained state-wide notoriety. Saturday night, it was the 5-foot-9 junior’s performance on the Devaney Sports Center court that put her in the Nebraska spotlight.
Kastanek scored 23 points, and senior guard Katie Birkel added 20 to pace the top-ranked Knights to a 60-44 victory against Millard West in the Class A title game. The win capped a 26-1 season for the Knights, who won their ninth state championship, all under Coach John Larsen. Millard West finishes 24-2.
A year ago, things didn’t go as well for Kastanek when Crete lost to Alliance in the Class B title game.
“I watched that tape in October before the season started and it was horrid,” said Kastanek, who also had seven rebounds and seven steals Saturday. “I’ll watch this one every day, if I can.”
Like Southeast’s 66-41 victory against No. 4 Millard North in Friday’s semifinals, the Knights hit on all cylinders. Their full-court pressure defense hounded the taller Wildcats into 25 turnovers, and with the frantic pace of the game, the Knights were either shooting layups or three-pointers.
Southeast’s quickness advantage even neutralized Millard West’s size by chasing down 12 offensive rebounds. That contributed to 23 more shot attempts by the Knights (58-35).
Larsen thought his players saved their best for last.
“The kids were really focused all week in practice and it showed in how they played here (at the tournament),’’ Larsen said. “Defensively, we wanted to pressure them and get the pace of the game up. Offensively, we spread them out, dribble-penetrated and kicked it out for threes. The kids executed it really well.”
One night after hitting 13 three-pointers against Millard North, Southeast buried 10 from beyond the arc in the finals. Birkel led the way with five threes. Kastanek, 10-of-18 from the field, connected on three three-pointers.
Kastanek scored nine of Southeast’s first 11 points as the Knights sprinted to a seven-point lead in the first 3 minutes, 10 seconds. They never looked back.
Southeast led 19-7 after one quarter and 32-18 at intermission. Birkel then helped ice it in the third quarter, exploding for 10 points as the Knights went on a 16-2 spurt in the first four minutes of the period to build a 48-20 cushion. Birkel hit her first three three-pointers of the second half.
“We were hoping they (the Knights) wouldn’t play like they did last night, but they did,” Millard West coach Kip Colony said. “Southeast is the Cadillac of Class A. They’re so quick with three Division I guards, they’re tough to stop. We needed 10 kids to guard them.”
The third member of that backcourt, junior all-stater KK Houser, sparked the Southeast attack with six assists and three steals to go with eight points. Haley Lake contributed seven points and five assists while nailing all three shots she attempted.
“We bonded so well these last two days,’’ Houser said. “Everyone was scoring and contributing offensively and everyone played great defense. It’s a strong team.’’
Senior Heather Pohl was the Wildcats’ only double-figure scorer, with 15 points. The Wildcats’ inability to get the ball inside to their 6-foot front line of Pohl, senior Courtney Janecek and sophomore Alison Janecek frustrated Colony.
“I thought our high-low was there several times and we just didn’t take advantage of it,” Colony said. “We didn’t get the ball inside as much as I thought we could.’’
--Ron Powell
Third place: Millard North 46, Kearney 43
Millard North’s Melissa MacFarlane scored 17 points, 12 in the first half, to lead the Mustangs to a 46-43 win against Kearney. Millard North took a 29-16 halftime lead and held on despite being outscored 27-17 in the second half. Nicole Arp led the Bearcats with 17 points.
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