The Oakland-Craig Girls defeated West Point-Beemer 57-47 in their regular season finale Friday night before downing Yutan 59-50 in the C2-3 Sub-District Semifinals at Fort Calhoun Tuesday night.
Oakland-Craig led the Cadets 12-11 after one before outscoring the Cadets 16-11 in the second quarter to take a 28-22 lead into the locker room.
The Knights won the third quarter 13-12 to go up 41-34 at the end of three.
Oakland-Craig put up 16 points in the fourth quarter compared to 13 for West Point-Beemer.
Dacey Nelson led all scorers with 29 points and posted 10 rebounds, good enough for a double-double. Kennedy Benne chipped in 11 points.
Head Coach Joe Anderson says this was a good win. "It's always a tough matchup for us. That big girl inside and a couple other girls that are tall and a couple girls that can really go to the basket well. So it's a tough matchup for us, but our girls did a better job second half of executing our game plan, and we were able to come up with a win."
The Chieftains jumped out to a 15-8 lead at the end of one before the Knights won the second quarter 22-17 to make it a 32-30 game at halftime in favor of Yutan.
Oakland-Craig outscored the Chieftains 14-9 in the third quarter to go up 44-41 at the end of three.
The Knights put up 15 points in the fourth quarter compared to 9 for Yutan.
Nelson posted a double-double of 28 points and 11 rebounds while Shannon Pille chipped in 16 points. Benne notched 9 points and 7 rebounds.
Anderson says those three really earned their points. "Dacey did not have one her best shooting nights, but she really hustled and hit the boards hard. She had 11 rebounds. Shannon stepped up and hit a bunch of big shots. That is what we our going to need out of our senior point guard tomorrow. Kennedy is a hustler. She is an outstanding defender, and is starting to really shoot the ball well."
Anderson adds all that matters is his team won. "This time of year the important thing is finding a way to win. It was not real pretty, but our girls battled and found a way. Unfortunately, we have dug ourselves a hole in quite a few games this year. And in almost everyone, we give ourselves a chance to win at the end. We will need a much better start on Thursday."
Oakland-Craig (13-6) faces Fremont Bergan (15-6) in the Sub-District Final Thursday night.
Bergan topped Omaha Brownell-Talbot 73-30 Tuesday evening.
The two teams just met last Tuesday in Oakland with Oakland-Craig winning 51-40.
Anderson says it's a whole new ball game Thursday night. "We were able to beat them last week, but the score starts back over at 0-0 tomorrow. They are a very good team, who has been practicing 8 straight days for us. It will be a tall task to beat them again, but our girls our confident, and we have been playing better the last couple weeks. "
I think if Nelson, Pille, and Benne have games similar to what they had against Yutan, Oakland-Craig will be in a good position to win.
Oakland-Craig's defense will need to be like it was when these two teams met in the regular season though I would say.
Anderson says other girls stepping up and helping out Nelson, and solid all around defense are keys to another Oakland-Craig win, "I am sure their defense is really going to key in on Dacey this time around. It will be very important for our other girls to step up and hit shots. Shannon, Mel (Snader), Kennedy, and Natalia (McNeill) have all started to shoot the ball well and they will need to continue to do that. Defensively, we are going to have to play very smart. They have some very good shooters, and most of their girls attack the basket very well, so it will take a great team defense to slow them down. "
I think if Oakland-Craig plays up to their full potential they will win.
Fremont Bergan is a solid team, but I don't think they've played the quality of competition Oakland-Craig has.
Playing in the East Husker Conference Tournament really helps prepare Oakland-Craig for these types of games, in my opinion.
If Fremont Bergan shuts down Nelson, and other girls don't step up, Oakland-Craig could get beat though, so it's important for every one of Oakland-Craig's players to be firing, hitting, and clicking on all cylinders.
Oakland-Craig has to go at it hard for 32 minutes and let their play dictate the outcome of the game.
Oakland-Craig has to block out all of the noise coming from the Bergan fans if they can, and just play their game.
Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
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