The Pender Girls won 50-43 over Cambridge in the D1-7 Sub-State Final from Grand Island Northwest Friday night.
The Pendragons led 16-11 after one. The Trojans won the 2nd quarter 19-18 to make it a 34-30 game at halftime.
Cambridge won the 3rd quarter 9-6 to make it a 40-39 game at the end of three.
Pender outscored the Trojans 10-4 in the 4th quarter.
Head Coach Luke Hoffman says his team was confident they would win despite the fact things were super tight at the end of the 3rd quarter. "We got in the huddle at the end of the third quarter and the girls were confident that they were going to win the game. When they believe, it makes it easy as a coach to guide them through the final 8 minutes. The girls had been putting a lot of pressure on what I consider a D-1 All-State guard in Korynn Clason all game. Finally our team endurance paid off in the fourth quarter and we were able to hold Clason to no points in the final period and limit the rest of the team. We hit a big three with 2:30 minutes left in the game to let us hold the hammer the rest of the way and dictate the final minutes."
Hoffman says the team is very excited to be back at State. "The girls were thrilled to beat Cambridge and make it to the state tournament. Who wouldn't want to be in the state tournament? The girls really responded the last two weeks in practice with drills and conditioning we put them through to help them win the game on Friday."
The Pendragons (17-11) take on undefeated Pleasanton (25-0) in the first round of State on Thursday at Lincoln Southwest.
The Bulldogs beat Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 44-38 in the D1-3 District Final at O'Neill Friday night.
I think Pender has a chance to pull off the upset in this game.
The Pendragons play an extremely tough schedule and are a better team than their record shows.
I think Pender is going to give Pleasanton all they could ever want and handle and then some.
Hoffman says the Bulldogs generate offense through their press and creating turnovers. "Pleasanton is a physical team that has five ball handlers on the court most of the time in the game. They like to run full court man to man pressure on defense back to man. They live off transitioning off of their press. On offense they are fluid with their couple offenses they run and attack the rim when they get the opportunity."
I think it's going to be imperative for the Pendragons to take care of the ball and limit and minimize turnovers.
Hoffman says post defense will be critical as well. "We will have to defend the post well, rebound well, and stop them from dribble driving the lane which has been a focus in practice this week and the girls have responded and done a nice job of getting their feet in front of defenders and being physical."
Pender has to be very thrilled and excited to be at State.
The Pendragons are no stranger to the State Tournament, but neither are the Bulldogs.
Pleasanton is coached by Jordan Arensdorf, who was the coach at Sandhills-Thedford when the Knights played Lyons-Decatur Northeast at State in 2016.
It should be a very exciting matchup for sure, and I'm very curious and anxious to see how it all turns out.
It figures to be a great game, and should come down to the final minutes and perhaps seconds you would think.
The game is scheduled to tip-off at 3:45 p.m.
And due to West Point-Beemer playing North Bend Central at the same time we will not be able to carry the game on the Bull, unfortunately.
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