Class D-2: Falls City Sacred Heart, Ewing, Pleasanton, Chambers advance

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Thursday's Class D-2 tournament results:

Falls City Sacred Heart 57, Coleridge 44: At first, Falls City Sacred Heart coach Luke Santo said he thought a change of defenses was what his top-ranked team needed to shake seventh-ranked Coleridge in its Class D-2 first-round state tournament game Thursday at Lincoln Southwest.

But after he switched from man-to-man to a seldom-used zone defense, Coleridge staged a 6-2 rally to pull into a 30-30 tie on an inside basket by Sophia Wemhoff midway through the third quarter. At that point, he said he thought a little discussion was in order.

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Coleridge's Abby Frerichs (left), tries to muscle her way past Falls City Sacred Heart defender Rachel Bieker on Thursday at Southwest High. (Ted Kirk)

Coleridge's Abby Frerichs (left), tries to muscle her way past Falls City Sacred Heart defender Rachel Bieker on Thursday at Southwest High. (Ted Kirk)

“I had to call a timeout and it kind of got the girls woken up,” Santo said. “I questioned their effort there for a stretch. I told them to pick up their effort or we were going home.”

The Irish got the message and went on a 15-0 rampage to take a 45-30 lead early in the fourth quarter on their way to a 57-44 win.

“He (Santo) was not happy,” Sacred Heart’s Katelyn Wheeler said. “He hates going to zone and we didn’t close out in zone. He gave us a little bit of the evil eye, so we knew we had to get out there and come back strong.”

Wheeler, a 5-foot-11 senior, scored seven of her game-high 24 points in the run. She also led all rebounders with nine. Dana Hansen scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Bulldogs (20-4).

The win was the 13th in a row for Sacred Heart (24-1) and sends the Irish into a 7 p.m. semifinal Friday at Pershing Center against second-ranked Ewing (21-3). It’s a rematch of last year’s D-2 title game, won by Ewing 56-46.

—Tom Simons

Ewing 50, North Loup-Scotia 34: Second-ranked and defending champion Ewing took advantage of first-half foul trouble for fourth-ranked North Loup-Scotia and cruised to a 50-34 win in Class D-2 first-round action at Lincoln Southwest on Thursday.

The Wildcats’ leading scorer and rebounder, Kelli Hermsmeyer (17.2 points, 9.7 rebounds per game), picked up two fouls in the opening minutes and missed most of the first quarter. She got her third foul 1½ minutes into the second period and saw limited action for the rest of the half.

North Loup-Scotia shot just 20 percent from the field in the first half and trailed 22-11 at halftime.

“We knew we had to keep her in check and her getting in foul trouble was definitely to our benefit,” said Ewing coach Brock Eichelberger, whose team improved to 21-3. “I thought we really attacked the paint well and got some easy stuff inside when she went out.”

Abbey Schueth led Ewing with 24 points. Hermsmeyer had 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to lead North Loup-Scotia, which had a 16-game win string end and finished 22-2.

 —Tom Simons

Pleasanton 45, Sioux County 41: Fifth-ranked Pleasanton used a 10-0 third-quarter run to take the lead for good and held on against eighth-ranked Sioux County at Lincoln North Star.

The Warriors closed the first half with eight unanswered points to take a 20-19 halftime lead and added a 4-0 run to start the second half and led 24-19 with 3 minutes and 52 seconds left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs (23-1) went nearly seven minutes without scoring during the Sioux County run. The Bulldogs settled down, though and rallied to put away the scrappy Warriors (19-3). It was Pleasanton’s 17th straight win and the Bulldogs’ first in the state tourney since their last appearance, in 1992.

“I told them they just needed to relax. It was just first-game jitters,” Pleasanton coach Brenda Paitz said.

Ashley Axman scored 13 points and Cortni Shoemaker added 12 to pace the Bulldogs, who also got eight blocked shots from 6-foot-4 sophomore center Laurel Zwiener. Sioux County’s Liz Ellicott led all scorers with 24 points.

—Tom Simons

Chambers 56, Mullen 30: Third-ranked Chambers forced 36 turnovers by No. 6 Mullen while committing only six fouls, as the Coyotes ran past the previously unbeaten Broncos at Lincoln North Star.

“We’ve got to be the smallest team in the whole darned tournament,” said Chambers coach John Miller, whose team improved to 23-2. “That’s got to be our forte. We’ve got to get after people and just try to wear them down because we’re not going to sit and pound it inside by any means.”

Chambers led 25-15 at halftime and put the game away with a 19-4 third quarter. Kyla Walnofer led the Coyotes with 11 points as seven different Chambers players scored at least five points. Megan Hoesing scored 13 for Mullen (21-1).

--Tom Simons