C2 girls champ Ravenna rallies for perfect season

LINCOLN -- Aquinas Catholic's Katie Holoubek put Ravenna in a big hole. Mallory Irvine dug the Blue Jays out.

Irvine scored six of her 10 points in the fourth quarter and Ravenna rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter to finish a perfect season with a 45-40 victory in the Class C2 final at the girls state tournament Saturday.

"We said, 'Hey, we've got nothing to lose now,' " Irvine said. "We gave it all we had, and it worked out for us. It was like a Cinderella story."

Holoubek finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds and helped first-time state tournament qualifier Aquinas take control of the game early.

The Monarchs built a 12-0 lead, capitalizing on eight Ravenna turnovers and the Blue Jays' 0-for-7 start.

A Holoubek free throw early in the third quarter gave Aquinas a 30-16 lead, its biggest.

But Ravenna freshman Maggie Matejka connected for a pair of 3-pointers to help pull Ravenna within 36-29 by the end of the third quarter. A Matejka putback, a Madison Pernicek bucket and a pair of free throws from Achtenberg completed the comeback and gave Ravenna a 37-36 lead with 2:36 left.

Irvine took over from there, making a big basket inside and hitting a couple big free throws.

Holoubek pulled Aquinas (22-3) within 42-40 with 24 seconds left, but Jesica Markvicka made a steal and layup to finish off the Monarchs.

"We gave it a good run," Aquinas coach Joe Pipal said. "The last three or four minutes of some of these games have been a bit of a challenge for us. We had a shot at them. We gave it all we had."

Ravenna won its second title in three all-time state tournament appearances. The Blue Jays also won in 2006.

Class A

Bellevue West 71,

Lincoln Southeast 60

Bellevue West brought a screeching halt to Lincoln Southeast's 36-game win streak and bid for a perfect season.

Alexis Akin-Otiko scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Emily Hauder added 19 points to lead the Thunderbirds to a 71-60 win over the defending champion Knights in the Class A final at the girls state tournament Saturday.

"This feels great. Just to stop their winning streak is the best feeling ever," Akin-Otiko said. "We're No. 1. People didn't expect us to win, but we came up and did the unexpected."

Southeast's Marissa Kastanek scored 10 of her 22 points in the first half and the Knights carried a 33-25 lead into halftime.

It didn't take long for the lead to evaporate.

The Knights (26-1) began to struggle offensively, connecting on just 9 of 31 shots from the field in the second half.

And Bellevue West (24-2) was just warming up.

Akin-Otiko began scoring at will inside, with 17 points in the second half. Myhiah Dotzler had nine of her 10 points after half to help the Thunderbirds deliver the knockout blow.

"Their inside game is so tough, and we didn't have an answer for it," Southeast coach John Larsen said. "The zone in the first half worked because they didn't make any 3s. But, when they started hitting those, that kind of put us in the hole."

KK Houser scored 14 points for Lincoln Southeast, which made just 6 of 32 3-pointers. Haley Lake led the Knights in rebounding with 10.

With 210 total points in their three wins, Bellevue West set the Class A record for points in a tournament. The previous record of 205 was set by Omaha Marian in 2001.

Class B

Seward 39, Lincoln Pius X 35

Seward had barely been challenged this season before taking the floor against Lincoln Pius X.

Thanks to 6-foot 4 Alyssa Kamphaus and the Bluejays' defense, that remained the case one more night.

Kamphaus scored 11 points to lead the unbeaten Bluejays to a 39-35 win over the Thunderbolts in the Class B final at the girls state tournament.

"It's amazing. Awesome. This is sweet," Kamphaus said. "Defense has been our focus all year. If we do what we're supposed to on defense, our offense doesn't matter."

Despite being held scoreless the first five minutes and making just 2 of 12 in the first quarter, the Thunderbolts trailed just 7-5.

By halftime, the Bluejays had turned 15-percent (3-20) shooting by Pius and a 2-point second quarter into a 15-7 lead.

The Seward advantage ballooned to 30-15 at the end of the third, and the Bluejays pulled away in the fourth, rendering a late Pius charge all but meaningless.

Laural Wagner made two 3-pointers on her way to nine points, and Emily Cady and Beth Bohuslavsky added seven points and eight rebounds apiece for Seward (25-0).

Alex Grant finished with 12 points and Lindsay Determan added 11 to lead Pius (20-3).

"We just didn't get off to a good start tonight. We didn't play well in the first half," Pius coach Bill Rice said. "We got in a hole and never could dig our way out of it. We didn't rebound well. We didn't shoot well. We just didn't play well."

The title is Seward's first. The Bluejays finished as runner-up in 1997. Pius was making its eighth finals appearance. The Thunderbolts won titles in 1991 and 1992.

Class C-1

Bishop Neumann 49,

Bennington 38

The fourth time was the charm for Bishop Neumann.

After finishing as runners-up in three prior trips to the finals of the girls state basketball tournament, the Cavaliers won their first title Saturday night with a 49-38 win over Bennington for the Class C1 championship.

McKenzie Fujan scored 14 points, Sara Reeves added 13 and Emily Kmiecik 10 to lead the Cavaliers (25-1).

"In school history we don't have any team championships, so that's been our goal for the entire year," Fujan said. "We've been working so hard. It's all paid off."

Although trailing 10-9 after one period, Neumann used six points each from Kmiecik and Alyssa Stanek in the second to lead 20-17 at half.

Neumann hit on just 34.6 percent of its shots but collected 17 steals and made 15 of 21 free throws compared with Bennington's 8-for-18 showing at the line.

"You can't take a possession off. They capitalize on every possession," Bennington coach Tom Schumacher said. "They finish and there were times when we didn't. Our kids battled back, but Neumann's a tough ball club."

Stanek paced Bishop Neumann on the boards with 12 rebounds.

Bennington, playing for its first state title three years after going 1-18, got three 3-pointers and 13 points from freshman Karlee Gansebom. Kelsey Hansen had eight rebounds for the Badgers (20-4).

Class D-1

Bancroft-Rosalie 56,

Silver Lake 43

Paige Goeken scored 17 points and Laura Staten had 11 points and 11 rebounds, leading Bancroft-Rosalie to a 56-43 win over Silver Lake and a second straight Class D1 championship at the girls state tournament Saturday night.

The Panthers (27-1) made up an eight-point deficit in the second quarter, then outscored Silver Lake 35-17 in the second half. They committed only four turnovers.

"I love this, it's great. Both of them are great," Goeken said. "We had great team chemistry and it just blended well."

Shelby Beaudette added 10 points for the Panthers

Bailey Morris and Cami Bruckman each scored 11 points for Silver Lake (22-4), which was playing in the finals for the first time.

"We might have run out of gas. We were pretty tired after the last couple of nights," Silver Lake coach Keith Crowe said. "But my girls just kept playing hard. We were trying to put a lot of pressure on them but they handled it."

Class D2

Ewing 51, Chambers 48

Toni Gillespie hit a 3-pointer to start overtime, Hayley Thramer dominated inside with 22 rebounds and Ewing won its third straight Class D2 championship with a 51-48 overtime victory over rival Chambers at the girls state tournament Saturday.

Ewing (24-3) committed 23 turnovers, including three in the last 1:08 that allowed Chambers to make it interesting to the end. But the Coyotes (24-2) missed six shots, including four potential game-tying 3-pointers, in the final 48 seconds of the first overtime final in D2 history.

Abbey Schueth had 23 points and 10 rebounds for Ewing, and Thramer had 11 points to go with her 22 rebounds.

"We did not want to end our season with a loss," Schueth said. "When we come to Lincoln, we come here with a purpose -- to win a state championship. We came out in the second half and kept chipping away."

Thramer, who missed on her first seven tries from the floor, scored all of her points after the break. Schueth scored 14 in the second half.

When Gillespie hit a three-pointer to open overtime and Thramer added two free throws, Ewing had all the cushion it would need.

Chambers not only couldn't make a basket late in overtime, it also missed from point-blank range at the end of regulation.

"The law of averages says one of those is going to go," Chambers coach John Miller said. "They kept giving us opportunities. We got the look we wanted. It's kind of a funny game."

Laura Burtwhistle led the Coyotes with 17 points and Kelsey Owen chipped in 15. Laura Tomjack, the Coyotes' season scoring leader, was held scoreless on 0-for-8 shooting.

Ewing had lost twice to Chambers in the regular season before beating the Coyotes in subdistricts.