GIRLS STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS:
Area teams returned with new hardware for the trophy cases this past weekend as the Nebraska Girls State Basketball tournament wrapped for all classes on Saturday.
In Class A, Millard South earned the title with a 72-60 win over #3 Lincoln High. Class B had Britt Prince continue her stellar All-State performance with a 64-51 victory over Omaha Skutt Catholic.
Class C1 featured upset ready Adams Central as the Patriots ended runner-up to now four time consecutive champions North Bend Central.
In Class C2, Pender earned a 45-42 win in the championship, while GACC placed third over Crofton.
D1 had Centura winning their first ever girls state basketball crown, downing Hastings St. Cecilia 44-38. Ravenna fell to Cedar Catholic for fourth place.
Finally in Class D2, Falls City Sacred Heart edged out Wynot 33-32. Shelton claimed third place with a 48-43 win over Humphrey St. Francis.
Full results can be found at the NSAA website. Boys State Basketball championships begin on Wednesday in Lincoln.
HUSKER MEN SWEEP HAWKEYES; DOWN IOWA ON SENIOR NIGHT:
Nebraska men’s basketball had no business emerging the victor Sunday afternoon in Iowa City.
Iowa reeled in 21 offensive rebounds and turned those into 31 second chance points. The Hawkeyes added 21 points off 15 Nebraska turnovers. The Huskers had 21 total points between second chance and Iowa turnovers.
And yet, when the final buzzer sounded on Senior Day in Iowa City, NU had more points on the scoreboard.
Nebraska (16-15, 9-11 Big Ten) beat Iowa 81-77. The win, paired with December’s 66-50 win in Lincoln, gives Big Red its first season sweep of the Hawkeyes since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12.
With other results earlier in the day, Nebraska was already eliminated from a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament. The Huskers will open tournament play Wednesday night in Chicago against Minnesota.
UNK WOMEN’S HOOPS HEADS TO NCAA TOURNEY FACING GORILLAS AGAIN:
Despite falling to #27 Missouri Southern State in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals, the UNK Women’s Basketball team will once again head to the NCAA Tournament and will face conference foe Pittsburg State on Friday in Duluth, Minn.
It is the third straight season for the Lopers in the NCAA Tournament and 16th time in program history.
UNK would have hosted the Central Region with a win on Saturday, instead will now make the ten hour trek to upper Minnesota for a chance to continue their season.
UNK and UMD have met each of the past two years in the Central Regional with the Lopers coming out on top in both games.
The Blue & Gold has won the last five meetings with Pitt, taking this year’s season series by scores of 70-55 (Kearney) and 70-67 (Kansas). Both teams fell to Missouri Southern in this past weekend’s MIAA Tournament in Kansas City.
BIG RED BASEBALL SLIPS TO OLE MISS IN SUNDAY FINALE:
Nebraska concluded its weekend at the Cambria College Classic with a 14-5 loss to No. 4 Ole Miss at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Nebraska (5-4-1) had five runs on eight hits, while Ole Miss (10-2) totaled 14 runs on 14 hits.
The weekend overall was a success for the Big Red, as the Huskers took down Top Ten Vanderbilt and had a big win over Hawaii on Friday and Saturday in Minneapolis.
Nebraska continues play with a midweek series against Northern Colorado on Tuesday-Wednesday, March 7-8. First pitch of the home opener on Tuesday is set for 4:05 p.m. at Hawks Field.
STORM COMPLETE WEEKEND SWEEP OF STAMPEDE; WIN SIXTH IN A ROW:
The Tri-City Storm completed a two-game weekend sweep of the Sioux Falls Stampede Saturday at the Viaero Center in a 7-1 victory.
Tri-City extended its season-high winning streak to six games with the result. The Storm has notched points in the standings in seven consecutive games.
The Storm will return to action in back-to-back road games against the Des Moines Buccaneers next weekend.
LOPER WRESTLING HAVE THREE TOP SEEDS FOR NCAA’S:
The brackets have been released for the 2023 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships and the seventh-ranked Nebraska Kearney wrestling team has three top seeds among six qualifiers.
The two-meet will be held March 10-11 in Cedar Rapids, Ia., at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse.
Omaha redshirt junior Billy Higgins is the top-seed at 184 pounds, Kearney redshirt senior Lee Herrington is second at 285 lbs. with Kansas redshirt senior Austin Eldredge third at 174 lbs. Also headed to Iowa are Kearney redshirt junior Nick James (141 lbs.), New Jersey senior John Burger (149 lbs.) and St. Louis redshirt freshman Kaden Hart (165 lbs.).
HUSKER WRESTLING FINISHES THIRD AT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS:
The Nebraska wrestling team finished third at the 2023 Big Ten Championships with 104.5 team points. Silas Allred highlighted the day, winning the 197-pound Big Ten title. That marks the first Big Ten Champion for NU since Robert Kokesh won in 2015.
The Huskers put five wrestlers in the finals this weekend and clinched seven automatic bids to the NCAA Championships.
Full results can be found here:
HUSKER SOFTBALL WRAPS BIG WEEKEND WITH WIN:
The Nebraska softball team (14-6) scored four runs in the eighth inning to secure a 11-7 win over CSUN (6-11) on Sunday in the final game of the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.
The Big Red had a big weekend, taking down Weber State twice, TAMU – Commerce, and #16 Arizona all over the three days in Arizona.
The Huskers return to action next weekend, March 10-12 for the Shocker Classic in Wichita, Kan. NU will take on Wichita State and Missouri State twice each over the weekend.
Local Results & Schedules:
THIS WEEK IN LOCAL SPORTS:
MONDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- N/a
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- N/a
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- High School Coaches Show (5 PM – 6 PM)
- Sports Nightly (6 PM – 8 PM)
TUESDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- N/a
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- N/a
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Nebraska Baseball v. Northern Colorado (3:30 PM – 8 PM)
WEDNESDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- N/a
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- N/a
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Nebraska Baseball v. Northern Colorado (1:30 PM – 6 PM)
- BIG TEN TOURNAMENT: Nebraska Men’s Basketball v. Maryland (6:30 PM – 11 PM)
THURSDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- Women’s Tennis: v. Northwest Missouri State – 12 PM
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- N/a
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- TBD
FRIDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- Women’s Basketball: NCAA TOURNAMENT – CENTRAL REGIONAL @ Duluth, MN
- UNK v. Pittsburg State – TBA
- M/W T&F: NCAA Indoor Championships @ Virginia Beach, VA – 9 AM
- Wrestling: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS @ Cedar Rapids, IA – 10 AM
- Women’s Tennis: v. Washburn – 11 AM
- Softball: v. Missouri Western State @ Patriot Park – 2 PM
- Softball: v. Missouri Western State @ Patriot Park – 4 PM
- Women’s Basketball: NCAA TOURNAMENT – CENTRAL REGIONAL @ Duluth, MN
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- Baseball: v. Cornerstone (MI) – 8:15 AM
- Women’s Wrestling: @ NAIA CHAMPIONSHIPS – 10 AM
- Baseball: v. Cornerstone (MI) – 10:15 AM
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- TBD
SATURDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- M/W T&F: NCAA Indoor Championships @ Virginia Beach, VA – 9 AM
- Wrestling: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS @ Cedar Rapids, IA – 10 AM
- Softball: v. Northwest Missouri State @ Patriot Park – 1 PM
- Softball: v. Northwest Missouri State @ Patriot Park – 3 PM
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- Wrestling: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS @ Cedar Rapids, IA – 10 AM
- Softball: @ Benedictine (KS) – 1 PM
- Baseball: v. Thomas – 1 PM
- Softball: @ Benedictine (KS) – 3 PM
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- TBD
SUNDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- N/a
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- Baseball: v. Aquinas (MI) – 8 AM
- Softball: @ Tabor – 1 PM
- Softball: @ Tabor – 3 PM
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- TBD
