Championship Perseverance

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In the Class C-1 state championship game on Saturday, the lessons of perseverance were both evident and, at the same time, invisible. Both stories are worth telling because we could all learn something from Malcolm’s Halle Dolliver and Milford’s Kylie Jakub.

If you are reading this, you likely know about Dolliver’s uneventful junior season where the standout Nebraska-Omaha basketball commit was sidelined for volleyball and basketball after tearing her ACL in late June 2024 during a summer basketball game. The evidence shows on the court in the padded knee brace she wears to protect her knee from further injury.

In missing her junior year, Dolliver missed out on a season with sister Payton. A season they had been wanting together their whole life. The story so eloquently told by the Lincoln Journal-Star’s Amie Just last Friday. Without Halle, Payton averaged nearly 21 points as a freshman. Halle learned how to coach.

What you always fear when you tear an ACL is that you’ll never get back to what you were before. And, before, Halle Dolliver was one of the top players in the state regardless of class. But, the big lesson here is the work she put in to come back and be better than ever.

How hard was she to prepare for and guard? We asked each coach that faced her in the state tournament, where the Clippers lost in the championship game to Milford.

“Halle is as tough as they come,” Milford coach Bryce Roth said. “She is a really good kid and competitor. I was just happy for her that she was able to finish up her career with Payton and her teammates after what had to be a very challenging junior season - mentally and emotionally.

“She can impact the game in so many ways - her ability to put her team on her back and hit tough shots in clutch situations is tough to deal with. Our first game at home; she hit a contested fadeaway three from probably 25 feet to make it a one possession game. She is a load to try and prep for defensively because she is so active and aggressive on the offensive boards.”

Fort Calhoun coach Eric Jones said that the elder Dolliver almost singlehandedly wrecked their game plan.

“Her Kevin Love style outlet passes basically destroyed multiple aspects of not just our game plan but who we are,” Jones said. “And it was something we could not account for. She certainly didn’t look like a 17 percent 3-point shooter at the state tournament. Ultimately her 3s were the difference in our game.

“But, more importantly, from my interactions with her she just seems like an incredible person and competitor.”

Holdrege coach Derek Runcie lost to Dolliver twice in his teams last three games.

“She’s an old school player,” Runcie said, the ultimate compliment. “She can score at all three levels. Most kids today can’t score in the mid-range but she is fantastic in that area. Her ability to score going to her left, she is so difficult to keep off the glass and she can play any position on the floor.

“Her ability to come off that injury and be as good as she was shows you just how tough she is.”

Dolliver’s Clippers had fought back and forth with Kylie Jakub’s Eagles as Saturday morning turned into afternoon. Milford led 49-47 heading to the fourth quarter. It was a classic game through 24 minutes.

And then Kylie Jakub — like she had done so many time this year for Milford — flipped it. Her two 3-point shots in the first 2:11 of the fourth quarter gave the Eagles a 55-47 lead and left Malcolm playing catch up. Milford would win the Class C-1 state final 66-52.

It’s just that if everyone knew about Jakub’s junior season, she could have quit it. If she was any other kid, she problaby would have been done. Perseverance. 

“To be honest, I did almost quit,” Jakub told me after the title game. “I had lost my love for basketball. I think by the grace of God and the love of my coaches and teammates the love came back.”

As a sophomore, Jakub started alongside Ayla Roth in the Milford backcourt. The Eagles finished 16-7 and lost to Minden in the district championship game.

Last year, Roth was a senior. Talented freshman Abby Crabtree and Shayla Rautenberg found themselves in the Milford rotation. And, Taylor Oldfield transferred in from Raymond Central. It squeezed Jakub out of the rotation.

In Milford’s run to the Class C-1 state championship game, Jakub supported her teammates from the bench and wore the jersey for her community.

“In the hardest moments, you feel like you lost it all,” Jakub admitted. “But, I wanted to support my community, I wanted to be there. That gave me the strength to go back out because I would have missed this all.”

It’s something that moves Milford’s Coach Roth to tears.

“She started 23 games as a sophomore as our point guard,” Roth tells me after she hit two big threes in a quarterfinal win over Central City. “She’s just a phenomenal story. To move into the role she had last year shows the kind of kid she is.

“She is all about her teammates. She is all about the team. She bought into us and the team and didn’t complain. She’s the cornerstone of our program.”

On Monday morning, after Kylie Jakub had a weekend with her state championship nets she brought them to Bryce Roth’s classroom. They needed to be with that big trophy, one of the six given out Saturday with a “50” on them to signify a championship during the 50th girls state basketball tournament.

The coach did the only thing he could do. He cried. Because kids like Kylie Jakub don’t come along too often.

Two kids in a single championship game. Two kids that could have quit, but didn’t. Two careers of perseverance intertwined on Saturday at the Nebraska girls state basketball championships. Most think their story ended in different ways by the color of their medal.

But, Halle Dolliver and Kylie Jakub had won long before last Saturday. They won by putting on their uniforms and representing their towns. Two awesome stories of championship perseverance.

“Discipline, drive, and dedication. Competitive spirit. A commitment to constant improvement. These qualities make great athletes and coaches. They also make great financial advisors. Northwestern Mutual advisors educate clients to make important decisions to live differently and achieve their goals of financial security. Learn more about joining our team. Karges Financial Group and the Great Plains District are proud supporters of Nebraska high school athletics.