SSC's Hornbeck Named Huskerland's Class B Girls Coach of Year

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Published Mar 14, 2017

SSC's Hornbeck Named Huskerland's Class B Girls Coach of Year

Bob Jensen • HuskerlandPreps

Publisher

@HuskerlandBob

If it seemed like old times, you were right.

Once again South Sioux City is the champion of Nebraska Class B girls basketball, and its head coach Molly Hornbeck Huskerland’s 2017 Class B coach of the year.

Entering the state tournament as the No. 2 seed the Cardinals knocked off Gretna in the opening round, 51-40, and nudged York 41-38 in overtime in the semifinals before downing Norris 48-44 in the state final. South Sioux finished the season 26-2, both of it losses to out-of-state teams.

“I was very happy with our team’s grit and determination during the state tournament,” says Coach Hornbeck, the former Molly Frank, who was an outstanding player at SSC and later Briar Cliff University. “McKenna Sims stepped up and led our team very well as a sophomore point guard, Kori Fischer shot the ball well, Carissa Powell had a great championship game with a double-double, and I thought our defense and rebounding across the board were keys to victory in all three hard-fought games.”

Her roots run deep at SSC and Coach Hornbeck’s head coaching career is certainly off to a fast start. After serving three years as an assistant to another former SSC great, Ashley (Robinette) O’Dell, she has now completed three years as head coach, compiling a record of 69-9 and a state title.

“Being a state championship coach is an incredible feeling. It gives me such a sense of pride in our school and in the girls I have the opportunity to coach,” says Coach Hornbeck. “I couldn’t be happier for these kids.”

She credits her team’s ability and willingness to maintain a high tempo in practice for much of her team’s success, as that carried over to game time. Coach Hornbeck credits her team with being a good passing team, one with a balanced offensive attack and a team-first attitude.

“I feel for the most part our team played well all season. Obviously we had some games where we looked better than others, but overall the girls were very unselfish and played great team basketball,” says Coach Hornbeck after having led the SSC program to a state record 12th state title. “All five of our starters were the leading scorer in at least one game this year, and I think our balanced attack was a strength for us all season.”