MUDECAS Championships set after packed semifinal Thursday

BEATRICE, NE — Players, coaches and fans are close to finding out who will be crowned MUDECAS Tournament Champions. 

A day packed full of girls and boys semifinals in Beatrice revealed who will compete for the four division crowns that started with 32 teams from 16 schools in the field on Monday. 

Note: Full Thursday results and schedules for Friday and Saturday listed are at the end of this article.

The day started with the girls semifinals. The A-Division pitted No. 2 BDS against No. 3 Falls City Sacred Heart (FCSH) and No. 1 Johnson-Brock played No. 4 Parkview Christian. 

BDS and Falls City Sacred Heart got the day started at the Beatrice Municipal Auditorium. The first quarter was balanced, but the Irish held a 13-10 advantage after the first quarter. 

FCSH kept the offense rolling in the second quarter behind seven points in the period from Jessica Wertenberger. The Irish defense clamped down as well to expand its lead to 26-17 at the half. 

The Eagles offense continued to struggle in the second half as BDS only managed 14 second half points. The Irish forced tough shots inside, but three-pointers weren't falling for the Eagles except for JessaLynn Hudson, who finished with 18 points. 

Sacred Heart closed it out in the fourth, getting all of its points from the charity stripe, going 7-10 from the free throw line in the final period. FCSH won it 43-31. Delanie Witt paced the Irish with 14 points. Wertenberger finished with 13 points.

Falls City Sacred Heart, now 11-2 on the year, will go for its third consecutive Girls A-Division MUDECAS Championship Friday against top-seeded Johnson-Brock (11-2) who defeated Parkview Christian (11-4) 39-33 Thursday. 

BDS falls to 11-2 with the loss and will play Parkview Christian for third Friday. 

The B Division semifinals featured No. 6 Exeter-Milligan — the lone team to pull off an upset in the quarterfinals — taking on No. 2 Meridian and No. 1 Lewiston facing No. 4 Palmyra. 

Exeter-Milligan’s Cinderella run nearly bled in to the championship game, but a late Mustang bucket forced overtime, ousting the Timberwolves’ shot at the title.

EM, the six-seed in the girls B-Division led pretty much the entire game, until Meridian’s Ana Dimas tied the game with a floater in the paint with 26.6 seconds remaining. The Mustangs outscored the Timberwolves 14-5 in the fourth quarter.

Exeter-Milligan struggled at the line the entire game, going 6/24. Meridian would outscore Exeter-Milligan 6-1 in overtime to win the game 40-35.

Meridian Mustang Jaylee Sobotka led all scorers with 14 points. Jasmine Turrubiates led the Timberwolves with 12.

With the win, Meridian improves to 9-4, and advances to the girls B-Division title where they’ll meet top seed Lewiston (8-2). With the loss Exeter-Milligan falls to 2-12 and takes on Palmyra (4-8) for third place. 

Lewiston beat Palmyra 51-34 in the other Girls B-Division semifinal. 

The boys semifinals capped off the night. 

The A-Division had No. 1 Freeman taking on No. 4 Tri County while No. 2 Parkview Christian faced off with No. 3 Palmyra. 

Freeman is undefeated no longer. Tri County knocked off the Falcons 43-35 in the MUDECAS Boys A-Division semifinal to advance to the final game, knocking Freeman into the consolation bracket, where they’ll play for the third place game.

Tri County got out to an early lead, using Carter Siems as both a weapon to bring the ball up the floor and play the post. The Trojans led by four, 19-15, at the half.

Freeman’s main downfall was their three point shooting as they were unofficially scored 4/31 from long range. The Falcons tied the game in the second half, but never led.

Tri County’s Carter Siems led all scorers with 22, adding a dozen rebounds, while Carter Ruse led Freeman with 20 points.

With the win, Tri County improves to 12-2, and advances to the A-Division final where they’ll take on Parkview Christian (11-1) who beat Palmyra (7-6) 61-50. Freeman falls to 12-1 with the loss and will take on the Panthers in the third place game.

The Boys B-Division turned into a late-night affair as the games at Beatrice Middle School fell behind schedule. 

This bracket saw No. 2 Diller-Odell play No. 3 BDS while No. 1 Pawnee City took on No. 4 Exeter-Milligan. 

Diller-Odell and BDS capped off the night, tipping-off at about 9:20 p.m. 50 minutes later than scheduled. 

That late start seemed to have an effect on the players as the Eagles led the Griffins just 5-4 after the first quarter. Things did not pick up much in the second period and BDS took a 15-8 lead into the locker room. 

The second half was a different story. After falling behind 32-22 early in third, the Griffins from Diller-Odell fought back, hitting four three-pointers in the quarter — including three from Braydin Wendland — to climb back in. Heading to the fourth, BDS led 27-22. 

Diller-Odell continued to fight, but couldn't overcome its sluggish first half as BDS held off the Griffins 44-37 to head to the B-Division championship. The Eagles hit 5-6 free throws in the final period to maintain its lead. 

Jaron Norder and Zach Hoins each finished with 11 points for BDS. Wendland paced Diller-Odell with 12. 

BDS improves to 8-5 with the win and has won five games in a row. Diller-Odell falls to 5-8 with the loss. 

The Eagles will take on Pawnee City (7-4) for the championship. The Indians defeated Exeter-Milligan (6-7) 61-50 in the other B-Division semifinal. 

That sets up the final two days of the tournament. The girls will play their consolation, third place and championship games Friday. The boys do the same Saturday.

All four Division Championships will be broadcast on Ol' Red 99.5, KWBE and NCN TV.

FULL THURSDAY RESULTS:

B-Divsion Semifinals

Girls:
No. 2 Meridian def. No. 6 Exeter-Milligan 40-35 (OT)
No. 1 Lewiston def. No. 4 Palmyra 51-34

Boys:
No. 3 BDS def. No. 2 Diller-Odell 44-37
No. 1 Pawnee City def. No. 4 Exeter-Milligan 

A-Division Semifinals

Girls:
No. 3 Falls City Sacred Heart def. No. 2 BDS 43-31
No. 1 Johnson-Brock def. No. 4 Parkview Christian 39-35

Boys:
No. 2 Parkview Christian def. No. 3 Palmyra 61-50
No. 4 Tri County def. No. 1 Freeman 43-35

FRIDAY SCHEDULE:

At Beatrice Middle School

B-Division Consolation: No. 5 Tri County vs. No. 8 HTRS at 4 p.m.
B-Division Consolation: No. 3 Johnson County Central vs. No. 7 Pawnee City at 5:30 p.m.
A-Division Consolation: No. 5 Sterling vs. No. 8 Freeman at 7 p.m.
A-Division Consolation: No. 6 Diller-Odell vs. No. 7 Southern at 8:30 p.m.

At Beatrice Municipal Auditorium

B-Division Third Place: No. 4 Palmyra vs No. 6 Exeter-Milligan at 3:30 p.m.
A-Division Third Place: No. 2 BDS vs. No. 4 Parkview Christian at 5 p.m.
B-Division Championship: No. 1 Lewiston vs. No. 2 Meridian at 6:30 p.m.
A-Division Championship: No. 1 Johnson-Brock vs. No. 3 Falls City Sacred Heart at 8:15 p.m.

SATURDAY SCHEDULE:

At Beatrice Middle School

B-Division Consolation: No. 5 Sterling vs. No. 8 Meridian at 11:45 a.m.
B-Division Consolation: No. 6 HTRS vs. No. 7 Lewiston at 1:15 p.m.

At Beatrice Municipal Auditorium

A-Division Consolation: No. 5 Johnson-Brock vs. No. 8 Johnson County Central at 11:45 a.m.
A-Division Consolation: No. 6 Falls City Sacred Heart vs. No. 7 Southern at 1:15 p.m.
B-Division Third Place: No. 2 Diller-Odell vs. No. 4 Exeter-Milligan at 2:45 p.m.
A-Division Third Place: No. 1 Freeman vs. No. 3 Palmyra at 4:15 p.m.
B-Division Championship: No. 1 Pawnee City vs. No. 3 BDS at 5:45 p.m.
A-Division Championship: No. 2 Parkview Christian vs. No. 4 Tri County at 7:30 p.m.