GNAC tourney titles won by Kearney boys, Columbus girls

COLUMBUS -- The Greater Nebraska Conference basketball tournament wrapped up Tuesday night in Columbus with the girls and boys championship games.

Both games, along with a few others, were canceled on Saturday because of weather, including McCook's consolation round games.

Kearney won the GNAC boys title with a 51-45 win over Norfolk. Columbus claimed the girls title with a 31-21 win over Kearney.

The McCook-Norfolk girls fifth-place game was canceled and will not be made up.

The McCook-Lexington boys game was also canceled.

The Bison basketball teams will host Hershey on Friday and travel to Sidney on Saturday.

According to the NSAA, the Bison boys have a 4-5 record and the the Bison girls are 3-7.

The McCook Bison basketball teams dropped their openers of the GNAC tournament Thursday in Hastings.

The Bison girls fell to Columbus 41-26.

The Bison offense struggled in game one, especially in the first half, scoring just eight points in the opening 16 minutes.

McCook girls coach Barry Schaeffer switched to a 2-3 zone defense in the second half and held the tournament's second-seed to 14 points.

McCook played without leading scorer Jessica Harris, still nursing a hamstring injury suffered in the loss against Holdrege a couple of weeks ago.

Taryn Placzek led McCook with 9 points. Kelsie Meissner added 5 points.

The Bison boys also struggled, falling to North Platte 59-36.

McCook scored just nine points in the first half, including two field goals in the opening 16 minutes.

Cory Gaston led McCook with 8 points. Zach Wieser added 7 points.

The Bison will meet up with the Bulldogs again next month in their annual regular season meeting.

The McCook boys lost 61-59 Friday.