Pinnacle Bank Arena passes the high school fan test

One thing is for sure. All the high school fans I talked to at the Girls' State semifinals today at the Pinnacle Bank Arena had nothing but high praise for the facility, the help, and the overall experience. I thought everything was about as good as it gets from my vantage point on Press Row plus a tour of the entire facility between sessions this afternoon.

As far as the food, I scored an excellent chicken filet sandwich that was twice as big as the bun and some great fries for 6 bucks. Way more than I could handle for sure and very delicious. Beat buying a slice of pizza for a 5 spot, even though it was Valentinos. Lots of choices for food in sharp contrast to the same old, same old at Devaney.

Sitting in my seat at Press Row about free throw line extended, it smelled as if the sparkling floor might have just received a fresh layer of clear-coat. And the Parking Garage right across the street makes it easy to access the place. Nice thing about the parking garage is that you can go online and reserve a slot for $4 for an all day pass (for girls and boys state anyway). Just have to put it on a credit card. Another great thing is getting out after the game. After State Football finals in the garage across from Memorial Stadium, it took at least a half hour to 45 minutes to exit following a game. It took 5 minutes for me to leave the place following the afternoon session.

Admittedly, I have not attended a Husker game with a full house, so that obviously is a different scenario. But for the State high school basketball tournament it should be smooth sailing for everybody tomorrow for the girls finals and the boys 3 day extravaganza next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

If you haven't seen Pinnacle in real life, get down there and take in the Boys tournament, you'll have a great experience. Without a doubt one of the most impressive venues I have been to in my lifetime and I have played some pretty big barns in my life with different bands through the years.

Lady Vikings come alive in 2nd half....

About the time the Northwest girls were going 2 for their first 18 shots and Kenzie Brown was 0-7 in that stretch, I wondered if Norris was going to notch it's 2nd win over the defending state champ Lady Vikings this season. After all that, Northwest still only trailed 9-5 after the 1st and 24-22 at the halftime break. Seriously, it did not appear that the Vikings matched up well inside in that 1st half and their outside shots certainly were not connecting and the free throws were not falling. But the NW defense was doing a good job holding the Hohlen girls (Kylie and Kasey) down which kept Mike Herzberg's team in the chase.

The second half, Northwest came out with a fiery defensive display that held Norris in check after a couple of Titan treys and about smack dab in the middle of that 3rd quarter, Kenzie Brown buried a WNBA three that ignited a Lady Viking scoring spree. The NW defense started forcing turnovers and Norris just couldn't recover. How in the world Kenzie Brown can get a ball handler to turn the ball over out of bounds when she is driving down the court and get the call EVERY time is mind boggling. I do the PA at Northwest so I see every home game and 8 out of 10 times when it appears that Brown either fouls or touches the ball last when it squirts out of the hands of an offensive ball handler, the 2 time all-state player extraordinaire will force the turnover and Northwest will get the ball. Never saw anything like it.

To illustrate how dominate the Lady Vikings were when they kicked in the jets in that 2nd half, Kylie Hohlen of Norris led her Titans in scoring with 11 points and in the process suffered through a 4-20 shooting night, and went nadda for 11 on 3 point attempts. Sister Kasey had to foul to stop Northwest from suddenly being able to penetrate, so she was basically ineffective from the bench during some huge Viking spurts.

Kenzie Brown led the Lady Vikings with 20 points, and no, her shooting percentage was not great, but the things she does otherwise will not appear in that box score. After being blocked 3 times in the first half by one of the Hohlen girls, Kennadi Keezor never gave up and ended up scoring 2 Norris ego deflating inside baskets in the 2nd half, plus drew fouls and really hurt the Titans with an 8 for 12 performance from the charity stripe.

In the other Class B contest, Lincoln Pius X, with their trio of 6 foot towers inside, blitzed Holdrege 57-43. You want to see a player that will play at the collegiate level, check out the 'Bolts Maddie Simon (#32). What a player. She scored 23 points which included 11-12 from the line. Credit Holdrege for making a comeback in the 4th quarter, although the final count will not reflect it.

The Lady Vikings will have to find a way to battle the 6-3 Simon, 6-1 Becky Brokaw, and 6 foot Kennedy Sander tomorrow. Simon, only a junior, has scored 435 points this season. On the other hand, Kenzie Brown has 565 points of her own going into tomorrow's final game for these outstanding Lady Vikings. Should be a dynamite matchup for all the Class B marbles.

Game time for the Class B final tomorrow is 1:00. If you can't be there, NET will televise all the action. Can these splendid Lady Viking seniors give Mike Herzberg another Championship Trophy Saturday?

Sleep well, girls.