@HuskerlandBob Sez: We still need to honor two of our girls basketball coaches of the year, and the plan was to do so today. But with the blizzard that has set in we are having power outages that prevent me from accessing our computer server. Long story short, when the storm subsides (probably tomorrow) we will take care of that happy business, then move on to honoring our boys basketball coaches of the year.
I know some of you like stats, so here's one: in the past 90 minutes we've had the power flicker eight times, go out completely four times. Hopefully all of us are safe and warm in these artic (the bad kind) conditions...Bob
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Like a storm cloud building up in the west, you could see it coming. Lincoln Christian girls basketball was going to get really good really fast, and Chloe Dworak would play a starring role when it happened.
Chloe. When you talk Nebraska high school girls basketball it’s like the girl doesn’t even need a last name. Chloe. You mention her name and you figure the rest of the sentence is going to have a lot to do with great basketball. And it has, for all the past four years.
When Chloe and her classmates, the grade ahead of them too, were coming up through the ranks they generated a tremendous amount of buzz - basically, wait ‘till you see this. Upon arrival at the high school level the winning began immediately and hasn’t stopped since.
It wasn’t like Lincoln Christian was without a great girls basketball heritage - the Crusaders won state in 2002 and had qualified seven times since - but starting with Chloe’s freshman season in 2015 things were going to a whole ‘nuther level. The Crusaders qualified for state that season and won a game, too, before losing in the semifinals to eventual state champion Pierce. Noble effort, you say. Horribly disappointing Chole says.
“That was an eye-opener for us. I know there were a lot of people happy for us getting to state and things like that but for us that loss was a real motivator,” says Chloe. “That really pushed us to get better and we have made it work most of the time.”
Lincoln Christian would suffer another crushing loss in Chloe’s sophomore season, a two-point loss to Kearney Catholic in the Class C-1 state final. Pretty good, you say. Pretty much not OK, says Chloe.
Last March the Crusaders returned to the state final and found unbeaten Kearney Catholic once again in the opposite corner. This time Lincoln Christian came out on top, winning that elusive state title 45-41. You can imagine what Chloe says about that.
“I am so thankful to be part of that championship team and for the games we had against Kearney Catholic. They are a great team and to play them under the lights in Pinnacle (Bank Arena) made it extra special. Our championship team was pretty amazing, we had such depth, and we always had five good players on the floor, players who could score when we needed them to.”
In her senior season Lincoln Christian is again a Class C-1 powerhouse, though the Crusaders will arrive at the state tournament in a fashion Chloe could have done without, in the role of a wild card. The thing about being a great program is that you are going to get every team’s best shot, right?, and that is sure what happened last Friday in the C1-4 district final at Utica when the Crusaders lost a heart-breaking 35-34 overtime decision to a determined Columbus Scotus team.
Regardless, Chloe and the Crusaders enter this weekend’s tournament 19-4 and the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed Auburn in Thursday’s 9 a.m. game at the Devaney Center. Auburn is working on some history of its own, qualifying for the first time since 1978.
“This year’s team is a great team, just a different type of team,” says Chloe, the team’s 5-4 point guard and the 2017 Huskerland Player of the Year. “We still have shooters and we have Emie (Hollenbeck) as more of a post presence that ever and a lot of girls contributing. We have been tested by a strong schedule and I feel that will make us a tough team to beat at state.”
Chloe is part of a basketball playing family, with three older siblings having played at Lincoln Christian - “and dad and mom were pretty good, too” - so her love for the game is home grown. Her toughness, tenacity and skill make her a natural point guard.
“Chloe has such a high basketball IQ and so much game experience as a four-year starter and even before that. She has had a huge impact on our team and the program in general the last four years,” says Lincoln Christian head coach Nick Orduna. “God has also blessed her with tremendous athleticism and she will finish up as one of the all time greats in the history of Lincoln Christian girls basketball.”
And one should add, Nebraska girls basketball in general.
Born in Lincoln, Chloe loves to travel, and having an older sister living in New York City means she gets to do some of that outside of her basketball. A strong student with a 3.8 GPA, she’s also an accomplished tennis player - “been taking lessons all my life” - and has been a member of the LCHS student council all four years of high school.
Last fall she committed to walk-on at Creighton University, which had long been her dream, pushing aside several Division I college offers. She plans to study hospital management.
“It is crazy to think this is my last week of high school basketball,” says Chloe. “I want our team to play our best at state and I want people to remember me as a hard worker who was a good role model and a good person.”
