PONCA – For the second consecutive season, the Ponca girls basketball team will be playing in the state tournament.
From Logan View High School in Hooper, #5 Ponca battled with #12 Lourdes Central Catholic of Nebraska City Friday night in the C2-5 District Final.
Senior Kaci Day knocked down two foul shots for Ponca with 3.7 seconds left in the game to crown the Indians district champs over the Knights, 39-37. Ponca improves to 21-4 while Lourdes Central Catholic ends their season at 20-6. Ponca will advance to their fourth state tourney in six years (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020).
Ponca took the early 9-8 lead after one quarter of play before the Knights outscored the Indians 14-11 to go up 22-20 at the break. Ponca then came out strong in the third and used a 12-8 quarter to regain the lead by two points as both teams scored seven points in the fourth.
Day finished the game with 17 points, followed by Alyssa Cosgrove with eight points and Samantha Ehlers tallied six points. Addison McGill, Maggie McGill, Bri Gill and Ashlyn Kingsbury all scored two points.
Day attempted all the foul shots going 5-9 for Ponca.
Libby Baumert paced Lourdes Central Catholic with 13 points while Gina McGowen added 10 points.
The Knights shot 5-8 from the charity stripe.
Ponca would unofficially move up to #4 and play the #5 seed at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, March 5 from Lincoln North Star. The Ponca Indians girls game will be carried on Big Red Country ‘KTCH’ 104.9 and waynedailynews.com.
Class C2 District Finals:
C2-1: #1 Oakland-Craig defeated #16 Wood River, 55-38
C2-2: #2 Crofton defeated #15 Freeman, 57-13
C2-3: #3 Hastings St. Cecilia defeated #14 Centennial, 46-26
C2-4: #13 Clarkson/Leigh upset #4 GACC, 45-44
C2-5: #5 Ponca defeated #12 Lourdes Central Catholic, 49-47
C2-6: #6 Grand Island Central Catholic defeated #11 Bridgeport, 54-32
C2-7: #7 Superior defeated #10 North Central, 43-41
C2-8: #8 BRLD defeated #9 South Loup, 43-32
Class C1 District Finals:
C1-1: #1 Lincoln Christian defeated #16 Louisville, 57-27
C1-2: #2 Chadron defeated Omaha Roncalli Catholic, 46-34
C1-3: #3 North Bend Central defeated #14 Norfolk Catholic, 55-47
C1-4: #13 Adams Central upsets #4 Broken Bow, 52-37
C1-5: #5 St. Paul defeated #12 Syracuse, 41-33
C1-6: #11 Malcolm defeated #6 Ogallala, 37-28
C1-7: #10 West Point-Beemer defeated #7 Milford, 47-35
C1-8: #9 Wahoo defeated #8 Chase County, 51-36
Class D1 District Finals:
D1-1: #1 Weeping Water defeated #16 Twin River, 55-20
D1-2: #2 Chambers/Wheeler Central defeated #15 Alma, 77-28
D-13: #3 Pleasanton defeated #14 Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, 44-38
D1-4: #13 Hartington Cedar Catholic upset #4 Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family, 71-59
D1-5: #5 Maywood-Hayes Center defeated #12 Diller-Odell, 37-27
D1-6: #6 Archbishop Bergan defeated #11 South Platte, 36-31
D1-7: #7 Pender defeated #10 Cambridge, 50-43
D1-8: #9 Dundy County-Stratton defeated #8 North Platte St. Patrick’s, 46-43
Class D2 District Finals:
D2-1: #1 Falls City Sacred Heart defeated #16 Wauneta-Palisade, 55-20
D2-2: #2 Humphrey St. Francis defeated #15 Bloomfield, 63-21
D2-3: #3 Mullen defeated #14 Leyton, 51-24
D2-4: #4 Wynot defeated #13 Crawford, 54-13
D2-5: #5 Lawrence-Nelson defeated #12 Dorchester, 43-13
D2-6: #6 Bruning/Davenport-Shickley defeated #11 Stuart, 44-22
D2-7: #7 Sterling defeated #10 Anselmo-Merna, 39-35
D2-8: #8 Loomis defeated #9 Silver Lake, 43-38