Class D-1: Three-pointers key for Bancroft-Rosalie

 No comments  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By the Lincoln Journal Star

Saturday's Class D-1 tournament results:

Championship: Bancroft-Rosalie 68, Pope John 35

One could use a lot of terms to describe the performance of top-ranked Bancroft-Rosalie.

View Slideshow

Bancroft-Rosalie guard Shelby Beaudette drives past Pope John's Tracey Eisheid during the Class D-1 championship game Saturday. (Gwyneth Roberts)

Pope John coach P.J. Book chose “efficient” and “consistent.”

Panther coach Trudy Samuelson threw around words like “exceptional.”

Whatever the case, starting in the second half of a first-round win against Lawrence-Nelson on Thursday, Bancroft-Rosalie was just flat out good.

Paige Goeken scored 17 points, Shelby Beaudette 16, Kalene Anderson 15 and Megan Stansberry chipped in 11 as the Panthers (27-0) dismantled No. 2 Pope John 68-35 Saturday morning in the finals of the Class D-1 Girls State Basketball Tournament at the Devaney Sports Center.

“You’re going to find championship teams that use those terms. When we had lulls they made it hurt and we couldn’t battle back from it,” Book said. “They put us in some situations where we turned the ball over a lot.”

The Panthers are no strangers to tournament. They have, however, struggled to make it to the finals.

Bancroft-Rosalie has qualified for eight of the last nine state tournaments, and in  the past two, they’ve been bounced in the semifinals.

When Lawrence-Nelson headed into the locker room at halftime of its first-round game against the Panthers holding a 29-15 lead, it looked like Bancroft-Rosalie may be headed home early once again.

Then everything apparently fell into place.

“It got into our heads that we were going to have to play a lot better if we wanted to win this. I think that really motivated us being down at halftime,” Beaudette said. “We knew we needed to step up and play at another level.”

A pair of baskets by Megan Veik, a three-pointer by Kasi Stoltz and a basket by Jackie Seier had the Crusaders (25-3) within 22-20 with 6:23 left in the first half Saturday.

Much like had been the case against the Raiders earlier in the tournament, however, that would be the last Pope John would see of Bancroft-Rosalie.

“We created a lot of hesitation on their part. We got our hands on a lot of balls and created a lot of turnovers,” Samuelson said. “It’s all about playing defense. If you want to win down here you have to play good defense. From the second half of the first game on we did a tremendous job of playing defense.”

By the time the final seconds had clicked off the clock, all the Panthers had done was collect 30 turnovers while committing just 15. They also connected on 10 of 11 three-pointers and 25 of 52 shots overall.

“Our kids can shoot. They really can. But, they work at it. It’s not a fluke,” Samuelson said. “Today it was exceptional.”

Bancroft-Rosalie finished the tournament 74-for-156 from the field, including 21-of-44 from three-point land. Most importantly, at least for the Panthers, was the fact they outscored their opponents by a total of 94 points over the final 10 quarters of play.

And, as a result, they head home with medals swinging from their necks instead of empty- handed.

“This feels so much better. I can’t describe the feeling,” Goeken said. “It’s amazing. I love it.”

Veik and Tracey Eischeid paced Pope John with 14 points apiece.

--Gene Cotter

Third place: Humphrey 50, Arapahoe 49, OT

Humphrey outscored Arapahoe 8-7 in overtime, and that proved to be the difference, as the Bulldogs earned a 50-49 win. Humphrey led 24-18 at halftime before Arapahoe tied the game. Paige Frauendorfer led Humphrey with 25 points, including 7-of-11 from the free-throw line. Cheryl Braithwait led Arapahoe with 17 points.