It’s time.

Maybe by the time you read this, but hopefully before, Pender will be facing conference mate Howells-Dodge or Lincoln Christian and North Bend Central will be squaring off in the Class C-1 opening round.

No matter, it’s state girls basketball tournament time. The 49th edition. And we hope that we can bring you some of the inside stories of the tournament this week and keep you up-to-date on the games as well.

You can get started with our full state tournament preview here on the Nebraska School Activities Association website. We are proud to be partnering with them again during the winter sports season (more on that below, too).

The Newsletter, however, is not for facts (right?) it’s for fun. So let’s dive in with some picks and projections for this week’s tournament. If this is your bulletin board material, let me know and call me out. That’s why I am here. Let’s have some fun.

The Picks

First off, we aren’t here to make anyone mad, we are just trying to let you know what we think. If there is anyone out there — like us — who has been in a gym in every single class of Nebraska basketball this year, we’d love to get your take on this week’s tournament as well.

CLASS A: Top-ranked (and Power 20, No. 1) Millard West is way ahead of the field here. And, you know the Gessert’s — when your best players are your hardest workers it makes it fun to coach — but it is what is around them that makes them almost unbeatable. The top of that list is junior Kylee Paben and Yutan transfer Jade Lewis. Both bring a spark to the game that you just can’t coach.

“It’s almost like you work harder coaching for them than anyone else, because you don’t want them to end on a bad experience,” Cats coach Marc Kruger told me earlier this week. “They have put in so much work that as a staff we don’t want to mess it up.”

The Picks: Millard West over Millard South. Lincoln North Star over Omaha Westview. Millard North over Omaha Westside. Bellevue West over Bellevue East. Semifinals: Millard West over North Star. Millard North over Bellevue West. Finals: Millard West. Sleeper: Bellevue East.

CLASS B: Like it or not, Class B has been a collision course all season with power players Omaha Skutt (who has been in the finals three straight tournaments) and Lincoln Pius X; the Bolts dropping down from Class A this year. The two teams have split a pair of games this season.

While the class does not have the top-end talent it has had the past four tournaments, there is no doubting the ability of Skutt guard Molly Ladwig, who will play next year at Buffalo. Pius will beat you with a group of savvy team-oriented players. Pius’ first round opponent, however, Gretna East, has given them fits twice this year. And all those all-state soccer players can play a little, too.

The Picks: Omaha Skutt over Norris. Bennington over Sidney. Lincoln Pius over Gretna East. Waverly over York. Semifinals: Skutt over Bennington. Pius over Waverly. Finals: Omaha Skutt. Sleeper: Gretna East.

CLASS C-1: Lincoln Christian has taken on all comers this season and has gone through unscathed including wins over tournament qualifiers Johnson-Brock, Silver Lake, Milford, Scotus Central Catholic, Gretna East, and Lincoln Pius X. An impressive list.

Now, to survive the Class C-1 bracket that is loaded with top-to-bottom talent, including a scrappy, well-coached North Bend Central team in the opening round.

The Picks: Lincoln Christian over North Bend Central. Bridgeport over Gothenburg. Minden over Scotus. Milford over Arlington. Semifinals: Christian over Bridgeport. Milford over Minden. Finals: Lincoln Christian. Sleeper: Scotus.

CLASS C-2: This is, by far, in our opinion the most difficult class to pick with depth all the way to the eighth-seed with Guardian Angels Central Catholic and defending champion Yutan as the seven-seed.

So, our thought here is to find the best players and see if we can trust them to carry their teams to a final. We’ll see how this goes.

The Picks: Johnson-Brock over GACC. Elkhorn Valley over Cross County. Crofton over Yutan. Oakland-Craig over Homer. Semifinals: Johnson-Brock over Elkhorn Valley. Oakland-Craig over Crofton. Finals: Oakland-Craig. Sleeper: GACC.

CLASS D-1: Look, the only teams people picking against Pender are the teams in the field. But if the Pendragons are hot for three days this one will be a coronation. That said, YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE GAMES.

And, if you can get past the Dolliver’s and Hadley Walsh at Pender, you’ll find a load of good players in this class — Cornell, Meyers, Scott, Bauer, Weers, Billeter, Wortmann, just to name a few. This one has a chance, we think, to get interesting.

The Picks: Pender over Howells-Dodge. Superior over Alma. Elm Creek over Diller-Odell. Cedar Catholic over Southwest. Semifinals: Pender over Superior. Elm Creek over Cedar Catholic. Finals: Pender. Sleeper: Southwest.

CLASS D-2: (whispers) Shelton is really, really good.

Sacred Heart and St. Mary’s really, really well coached. Dorchester in the middle of a dream season. This Class D-2 tournament will be really, really fun. The Bulldogs will go for the volleyball-basketball double.

The Picks: Shelton over Wilcox-Hildreth. Silver Lake over Dorchester. Sacred Heart over Anselmo-Merna. St. Mary’s over Archangels Catholic. Semifinals: Shelton over Silver Lake. Sacred Heart over St. Mary’s. Finals: Shelton. Sleeper: Anselmo-Merna.

The Recaps

We have been honored to partner with the Nebraska Schools Activities Association this school year to share previews and recaps of all the state events. If you have missed any here are links to the championship recaps from the winter season of 2025. Two more to go!

State Wrestling Duals | State Bowling | Girls State Wrestling | Boys State Wrestling | State Swimming and Diving

BEFORE YOU GO: We were honored to help select nominees for the nebpreps.com Girls Basketball Player-of-the-Year and now you can help us select the winners for the March 24th awards show at Hurrdat Sports Bar in La Vista. The selections are here and you can make your vote known. We’d love your help!! You can also submit your own pick for the Nebraska boys and girls basketball Coach-of-the-Year.

Also, recap that wild night in Class A boys basketball with Mike Sautter and Jacob Padilla here.