PONCA – A pair 20-win northeast Nebraska girls basketball teams are one win away from punching their ticket to state.
Girls District Finals are slated for Friday, February 25 for Classes C1 – D2 across the state as the C2-5 District Championship game will feature #5 Ponca vs. #12 Pender in Ponca at 7 p.m.
Pregame show coverage on Big Red Country ‘KTCH’ 104.9 and waynedaliynews.com is set for 6:40 p.m.
Ponca has won 13 straight and are 23-1 on the season. The Indians avenged their lone loss of the season by winning 52-41 over Crofton on February 17 in Crofton during the C2-5 Subdistrict Finals.
Pender enters at 20-6 and have strung three straight wins together including a 46-39 win on February 17 over Oakland-Craig in Oakland during the C2-2 Subdistrict Finals. The Pendragons also won in Oakland on December 20 by the score of 66-61.
The last meeting between the two teams favored Pender over Ponca, 63-44 on February 11,2014 in Pender. Since 2004, Pender leads the series 6-3.
Other meetings: Pender won in Ponca, 58-43 in 2013; Pender won 73-30 in Ponca in 2011; Pender won 74-45 in 2010 in Pender; Pender won 69-45 in Ponca in 2009; Ponca’s last win over Pender came in 2007, 82-38 in Ponca; Pender won 46-41 in Pender in 2006; Ponca won 44-37 in Pender in 2005 and Ponca won 44-38 in Ponca in 2004.
Ponca will be in search for their fourth consecutive trip to state as the Indians have made 10 total appearances at state and are coming off back-to-back C2 runner-up finishes. The Indians also placed runner-up in 1993 (C2).
After missing out on the state tournament last season, Pender last qualified in 2020 where the team went 0-1 in their eighth state tournament in program history. The Pendragons won the Class D1 title in 2013; were runner-up in D1 during the 2011 state tournament while recording a trio of third place finishes all in Class C2 (2012 – 2014).
The 2022 NSAA State Basketball Championships for the girls and boys will be from Monday, March 7 – Saturday, March 12 in Lincoln.
Class C1 District games:
C1-1 (Lincoln Lutheran): #1 Lincoln Lutheran vs. #16 Fairbury at 6:30 p.m.
C1-2 (Aurora): #2 Broken Bow vs. #15 Omaha Gross Catholic at 7 p.m.
C1-3(Battle Creek): #3 North Bend Central vs. #14 Ainsworth at 7 p.m.
C1-4 (North Platte HS): #4 Grand Island Central Catholic vs. #13 Chase County at 7 p.m.
C1-5 (Wahoo): #5 Wahoo vs. #12 BRLD at 7 p.m.
C1-6 (Gothenburg): #6 Gothenburg vs. #11 Milford at 6:30 p.m.
C1-7 (St. Paul): #7 St. Paul vs. #10 Columbus Scotus at 6 p.m.
C1-8 (Malcolm): #8 Malcolm vs. #9 Syracuse at 6 p.m.
Class C2 District games:
C2-1 (Hastings St. Cecilia): #1 Hastings St. Cecilia vs. #16 Centennial at 6:30 p.m.
C2-2 (Guardian Angels Central Catholic/West Point): #2 GACC vs. #15 Norfolk Catholic at 7 p.m.
C2-3 (North Platte Community College): #3 Bridgeport vs. #14 North Central at 7 p.m.
C2-4 (Central Community College/Columbus): #4 Crofton vs. #13 Superior at 6 p.m.
C2-5 (Ponca): #5 Ponca vs. #12 Pender at 7 p.m.; pregame at 6:40 p.m. on KTCH
C2-6 (Sutton): #6 Sutton vs. #11 Amherst at 7 p.m.
C2-7 (Yutan): #7 Yutan vs. #10 Elkhorn Valley at 7 p.m.
C2-8 (O’Neill): #8 Oakland-Craig vs. #9 Gordon-Rushville at 6:30 p.m.
Class D1 District games:
D1-1 (Crete): #1 Elmwood-Murdock vs. #16 McCool Junction at 6 p.m.
D1-2 (Wisner-Pilger): #2 Archbishop Bergan vs. #15 Plainview at 7 p.m.
D1-3 (Columbus Lakeview HS): #3 Ravenna vs. #14 Hartington Cedar Catholic at 7 p.m.
D1-4 (Hampton): #4 Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family vs. #13 Overton at 6:30 p.m.
D1-5 (Holdrege): #5 Shelton vs. #12 Cambridge at 7 p.m.
D1-6 (Kearney HS): #6 Alma vs. #11 Nebraska Christian at 7 p.m.
D1-7 (Cross County): #7 Niobrara/Verdigre vs. #10 Johnson-Brock at 6 p.m.
D1-8 (Shelby-Rising City): #8 Elgin Public/Pope John vs. #9 BDS at 7 p.m.
Class D2 District games:
D2-1 (Palmyra): #1 Falls City Sacred Heart vs. #16 Osceola at 6:30 p.m.
D2-2 (Burwell): #2 Humphrey St. Francis vs. #15 Sandhills/Thedford at 7 p.m.
D2-3 (Boone Central): #3 St. Mary’s vs. #14 Exeter-Milligan at 6:30 p.m.
D2-4 (Hastings College): #4 Anselmo-Merna vs. #13 Parkview Christian at 7 p.m.
D2-5 (Gibbon): #5 Sterling vs. #12 South Platte at 6 p.m.
D2-6 (Paxton): #6 Crawford vs. #11 Silver Lake at 6:30 p.m.
D2-7 (Wilcox-Hildreth): #7 Wauneta-Palisade vs. #10 Diller-Odell at 7 p.m.
D2-8 (Ord): #8 Maywood-Hayes Center vs. #9 Wynot at 6 p.m.
