Lady Devils are returning to a very familiar place
WYNOT — Wynot’s Lady Blue Devils will be making their 16th trip, dating back to 2004, to the Nebraska Girls Basketball Championships, opening the tournament as the No. 3 seed in Class D2 and taking on the No. 6 seed, Plainview at 7:45 p.m., Feb. 28, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Wynot has made the most of its previous 15 trips south, amassing eight state titles and has been a four-time runner-up, including last year’s runner-up to Falls City Sacred Heart, 33-32.
“We’re ready to make another run down there,” Lady Blue Devils head coach Steve Wieseler said after winning the District D2-3 championship against Crawford, 65-31 in a game played in Ainsworth. “We’ve got a few little things to iron out, but we’re playing pretty good right now.”
“Pretty good” means the Lady Blue Devils have won 14 straight, including a Lewis & Clark Conference Championship, 51-41 over their first-round opponent (Plainview) at state, a D2-6 Sub-District title and the recent District win.
And although he calls it “another” run, this is a very different team than the one that finished second last year.
“A few of these girls played some last year, but this is a different team overall,” Wieseler said. “We have seven seniors and they have taken ownership of this team. I think they want to leave their stamp on great careers.”
Lurking down the road for the Lady Blue Devils is their old nemeses Humphrey St. Francis and Falls City Sacred Heart.
St. Francis and Sacred Heart play each other in the opening round on Wynot’s side of the bracket.
“We’re not looking ahead to that,” Wieseler said. “We know Plainview is a very good team and you need to take it one game and one possession at a time down there.”
On the other side of the bracket is top-seeded Overton (25-1) playing Paxton (17-9) and No. 4, Howells-Dodge (13-10) taking on No. 5 Sandhills/Thedford.
Wynot has a win over St. Francis under its belt just over a week ago in the SubDistrict finals, 42-25, played in Wynot, but you can discount all of that, according to Wieseler, who has compiled a 33-7 record at state.
“Records don’t mean anything, realistically after the SubDistrict,” Wieseler said. “It’s win or go home to be honest. No one is going down there to get second.”
The first D2 semifinal is scheduled for March 1 at 6 p.m. back at the Devaney Center with the Wynotbracket semifinals set for 7:45.
The D2 Championship game is on for 8:15 p.m. at the Pinnacle Bank Arena March 2.