Five girls' teams face last roadblocks to Lincoln

Freshman Cali Cox and Wauneta-Palisade will try to put pressure on No. 1-seed Falls City Sacred Heart when they meet in the D2-1 district final Friday night.

R.B. Headley/McCook Gazette

LINCOLN, Neb. — Area girls basketball teams are one win from Lincoln when they venture into five disrict finals Friday night.

The Maywood-Hayes Center girls (22-3 record) lead five more area teams into state-qualifying contests Friday evening.

Coach Kimberly Stengel’s Wolves are preparing for their third consecutive district final. Seeded fifth, MH-C takes on No. 12 Diller-Odell (13-10) at 6:30 p.m. in Hastings Adams Central High’s gymnasium.

Hastings and Grand Island are both popular destinations for area teams this week.

At Hastings High, D-2 No. 16 Wauneta-Palisade (11-14) tries to knock off No. 1 Falls City Sacred Heart (23-3).

Opening tip time is set for 6 p.m. Coach Matt Cox’s Broncos surged through two subdistrict playoff games last week while aiming to make their second state tourney in three seasons.

However, no area team has been on a roll like the Cambridge girls.

The Trojans (16-8) are 14-2 since Jan. 7 and are seeded No. 10 entering Friday’s D1-7 district final vs. No. 7 Pender (15-11) at Northwest High School in Grand Island. Opening tip is set at 6 p.m.

Dundy County-Stratton (17-6) beat the Pender Pendragons during their state tournament runner-up finish in 2017.

The Tigers could make state again and won’t travel as far for their D1-8 final against North Platte St. Patrick’s (17-7) at Southwest High School.

Opening tip in Bartley is set for 7 p.m. St. Pat’s downed DC-S, 50-44, on Feb. 11 at Benkelman.

The Chase County Longhorns (18-3) complete these five area district finalists. They’re seeded No. 8 and meet No. 9 Wahoo (17-7) at Kearney High School Friday night (7:30 p.m.).