Quarterfinal play in the South Platte Valley Association begins tonight at home sites, with the girls first-round games already in the book.
Perkins County is 10-3 and will open the boys tournament as the No. 1 seed and gets tonight off, thanks to a first-round bye. You can listen to my conversation with Perkins County head coach Shawn Cole by clicking on our premium message board, Huskerland Headlines.
Perkins County has beaten No. 2 seed North Platte St. Pat's, 58-53, and its losses are to good teams like 11-3 Gothenburg, 11-0 Dundy County-Stratton and 11-1 Paxton. Coach Cole likes the balance his team has displayed in the early going and is excited to be the tournament's top seed, affording his team a full week of practice before Friday's semifinal games.
The Plainsmen will face the winner of tonight's game between No. 4 seed Sutherland (4-6) and No. 5 Chase County (3-10). Sutherland has some talented players, senior Kadin Copeland comes to mind, and shouldn't be overlooked, given all but one of the Sailors losses have come to teams with 10 wins or more, the other coming to Class C-1 Ogallala. Chase County has also faced a stern schedule, as testified by its last three losses, which have come against 12-1 Southern Valley, Gothenburg and 11-4 St. Pat's, though the latter was by just seven points.
Speaking of St. Pat's, the Irish play Hershey (2-12) tonight, a rivalry game that would seem to have the Irish as heavy favorites, especially given back in early December St. Pat's whipped Hershey 57-30. Thing is, Hershey has surely been toughened by its challenging schedule and the fact it has lost five games by three points or less, including an overtime loss, a three-point loss to Class B McCook and a two-point loss to this tournament's No. 3 seed, Bridgeport. An upset, are you calling for an upset @HuskerlandBob? Well, no, just sayin'...
Bridgeport (11-2) will host Kimball (5-7) in tonight's final quarterfinal game. Kimball also gave No. 1 seed Perkins County fits before losing a 64-59 decision but it is Bridgeport, last year's tournament runner-up, that could provide this week with a surprise ending. The Bulldogs feature the best player in the tournament, senior guard Quentin Baxter, and have been tested in their losses to Class B Gering and Alliance, as well as in that narrow win over Hershey - just sayin', remember - and Ogallala.
The SPVA boys tournament championship game will be played Saturday at North Platte Community College, tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
Going in you have to respect what Perkins County has accomplished, and that first-round bye is a deal this late in the season, but this bracket also seems filled with upset possibilities. Just sayin'.
* In last night's first round of the tournament Hershey reversed an earlier 27-point loss to Sutherland and advanced to the semifinal round, while No. 2 seed Kimball (63-21 over Perkins County) won as expected, but No. 3 seed Bridgeport was upset by No. 6 Chase County, 47-44.
Sutherland (3-8) advances to face No. 1 seed North Platte St. Pat's (13-2) and Kimball (10-2) will face Chase County (3-11) in Thursday's semifinals to be played at North Platte Community College.
Kimball has handed 2015 Class D-1 state runner-up Dundy County-Stratton its only loss so far this season and also beat 9-1 Potter-Dix, while its losses have come to Class B Sidney and 13-2 Mitchell, the Panhandle's best Class C team.
KHS head coach Chauncy Pedersen has a veteran team led by one of the best players in Class C-1, 6-foot-tall senior Danika Daum, who averages 20.5 points and 10 rebounds per game, but there's more where that came from. 5-10 Kate Reader (11 ppg, 8 rpg) is a rising star and the lineup is rounded out by seniors Madison Biesecker and Arica McCloud and sophomore Alex Reader.
"Our girls play so well together and having five quality senior players on our roster is also a huge plus," says Coach Pedersen. "It's nice to have an inside-outside balance on offense, and our girls really respond well to pressure and really limit their mistakes."
It would seem St. Pat's and Kimball are a cut above going into these semifinal games but Coach Pedersen is wary none the less.
"Our goal is to make the finals and have a chance to play St. Pat's, but last year we stumbled in the semifinals against Chase County and we need to make sure there is no repeat of that."
