PREVIEW: Beatrice ready for second straight state appearance

BEATRICE - Lady Orange basketball head coach Jalen Weeks once said he and his staff have the common goal of bringing the first girls basketball state championship to Beatrice. For the second year in row, they’ll have the opportunity to do so.

Beatrice gets ready to embark on their journey through the state tournament, something Weeks says is an every year goal for the program.

“That’s one of our biggest goals, to get back to state,” Weeks said. “We’re really excited and just want to make sure we’re really prepared going into it.”

Beatrice goes into state as the six-seed with a record of 17-4, having knocked off Bennington 59-35 in the district final. A major part of Beatrice’s success has been the recent play of Riley Schwisow who’s averaging a team high 16 points per game over the last two weeks. She talked about they keys to her recent success.

“I haven’t been thinking,” Schwisow said. “I’ve been on the court, just playing my game. The coaches have helped me get to that point, so just playing my game and I’ve been relying on my teammates to make plays when I can’t.”

Beatrice fell to Adams Central at state last year, in the first go-around for Ellie Jurgens, Annie Gleason, Kiera Busboom and Addie Hatcliff. Now, in their second go around, Busboom and Hatcliff credit the senior leadership of Riley Schwisow and Avery Barnard for the preparation for the big moment.

“They’ve helped a lot, they’ve been really motivating in pushing us to get better everyday,” Busboom said.

"They have really good leadership… They’ve made sure we’re staying focused, getting ready for our games, and they’ve stayed on top of us all the time to make sure we do our best.”

As one of those leaders, Schwisow is going into this year’ state tournament with a burning passion to take the ultimate prize.

“I want to go out there and compete and I want it more then I’ve ever wanted it,” Schwisow said. “I want to make the state championship, go out there and compete, and leave PBA with a gold medal around my neck.”

Jalen Weeks, in just five years at the helm, has now made it to three state tournaments. At 28 years of age, the Beatrice native credits his staff and the drive of the athletes he’s coached for his success in his young coaching career.

“The staff that I have is unbelievable… Really lucky and fortunate to have those guys be on staff with us,” Weeks said. “The second thing is the players… We’ve had some really good players, on a lot of teams with girls who the results are important to them. When you have a group of girls who want to have a successful season, it make things a lot easier.”

Beatrice takes on Sidney in the Class-B quarterfinal at 7:45 PM on Thursday. The game can be heard on 94.7 FM/1450 AM , KWBE. The state tournament can also be see right here on NCN.