By Con Marshall
Some changes have been made as the Chadron Rotary Club’s annual George Watson Holiday Basketball Classic enters its 14th year. Teams from two western Nebraska schools are joining the Chadron Cardinals and the Valentine Badgers in the competition.
They are Bridgeport and Ogallala, replacing Hemingford and Custer, S.D., in the brackets. But, as usual, the games will be played in the Chicoine Center at Chadron State College. This year’s dates are Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 30 and 31.
The first-round pairings on Monday have the Bridgeport and Valentine girls opening the action at 2 p.m., followed by the boys from those schools at 3:30. The girls from Chadron and Ogallala will take the court at 5 o’clock, and the boys’ teams meeting at 6:30.
The consolation games on Tuesday will begin with the girls’ tilt at 10 a.m. and the boys’ contest at 11:30. The championship games will be at 1 and 2:30 with the girls playing first.
Chadron and Valentine have been involved in the classic from the start while Hemingford did not participate the first year in 2011, but has been involved every year since then. While the Bobcats never won a championship, the girls reached the finals three years in a row beginning in 2014 and the boys also were finalists that year.
The Hemingford teams have not been as competitive the past few years and decided to take a break from the classic this year. Custer’s participation dates back to 2017 and its Wildcats have been strong contenders on both sides of the bracket. Each team has won three championships and was a runner-up another time.
Chadron High Activities Director Rick Barry said a scheduling conflict prevented Custer from entering the classic this year, but school officials said they would appreciate being invited to participate again in the future. That may work out well, because Barry said he and other classic organizers hope to expand the event into an eight-team affair, beginning this coming year.
Both Chadron teams will play at Custer on Jan. 21.
The extremely young Chadron girls’ team will enter the classic with a 3-2 record after winning both of its games last weekend, downing Alliance 46-38 on Friday night and overwhelming Douglas High of South Dakota 69-34 at home Saturday night. The Lady Cardinals were particularly impressive in the second game, when they tallied at least 18 points in each of the first three quarters and nailed eight 3-pointers, five of them in the second period.
The Chadron boys are 2-3 with one of their losses in overtime to Gering. They fell to a stronger-than-anticipated Alliance team on Friday night, but after trailing 31-28 early in the fourth frame against Douglas, rolled to a 50-41 triumph over the Patriots. Senior forward Thomas Smith led the late surge by scoring 13 of his 17 points in the final eight minutes.
The Valentine girls lost their first three games, but have won their last three. According to MaxPreps, sophomore Paige Sprenger is averaging 18.2 points a game and junior Aiden Hand is averaging 9.3 points and 8.5 rebounds.
The Valentine boys have definitely improved the last two years. They lost their season-opener to O’Neill 50-49 and also lost last weekend to Cozad 53-43, but bounced back the next night to thump Ainsworth 70-28 and are 4-2 for the season. The Badgers include 6-6 junior Isaac Cronin, who is averaging 17.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. In addition, senior guard Andon Olson is averaging 14.2 points and sophomore Dominic Beebout 12.7.
All of the new teams in the classic are expected to be extra competitive.
The Ogallala girls are 5-2 for the season and the boys are 7-0 and are ranked No. 1 in Class C-1 by the Omaha World-Herald this week, despite not having any seniors on the roster.
The Ogallala girls lost to 6-0 Minden by a 67-47 margin during the second game of the season and fell to Holdrege 41-40 a week later, but have won their last four games by an average of 38 points. Their leaders include sisters Story Rasby, a 5-8 senior, and Shaydyn Rasby, a 5-10 freshman. Another force reportedly is 6-footer Laney Caskey, sister to all-around athletic standout Harry Caskey, now an Air Force Academy standout.
Although the Ogallala boys edged Holdrege by just 72-71, the Indians have won all of their other games by at least 15 points and doubled the score on three foes. The Indians’ top players include 6-3, 190-pound Sawyer Smith, who averaged 19.5 points and earned all-state honors last year as a sophomore. Another standout reportedly is 6-1 junior Edan Cain.
The Ogallala boys have reached the state tournament four of the last five years, including the last three.
The Bridgeport girls also are used to winning. They have won 79 games and lost just four the past three seasons. While both of their top all-stars during that stretch, sisters Ruthie and Olivia Loomis-Goltl, who combined to score more than 4,000 points during their careers, are now playing college ball, the Lady Bulldogs are 6-0 so far this season.
Three starters return from last year’s 27-1 team. Senior Tacey From, who began her high school career at Valentine, is averaging 22 points through six games this season, junior Ella Schluterbusch is averaging 17 and sophomore Olivia Brown 9.8.
The Bridgeport boys, who qualified for state last year, won their first four games this season, but lost to Pine Bluffs, Wyo., 56-46 and Grand Island Central Catholic 43-35 last week. Their leading scorer so far is 5-9 junior Gage Nein at 15.2 points a game, followed by 5-8 sophomore Hayes Watts at 10.7. The Bulldogs’ tallest player, 6-3 sophomore Landon Dean has chipped in 9.2 points a game.
Nein was credited with 137 assists last winter.
Rotary Classic Winners (updated 2024)
Chadron Rotary Club Holiday Classic Winners
Year Girls’ Title Games Boys’ Title Games
2011 Chadron 57, Valentine 52 Valentine 59, Chadron 46
2012 Chadron 70, Valentine 43 Valentine 48, Chadron 35
2013 Valentine 58, Buffalo, Wyo., 45 Chadron 51, Valentine 39
2014 Chadron 67, Hemingford 55 Chadron 55, Hemingford 44
2015 Spearfish 60, Hemingford 54 Spearfish 45, Chadron 24
2016 Chadron 47, Hemingford 31 Chadron 55, Spearfish 44
2017 Custer 54, Chadron 43 Chadron 44, Valentine 30
2018 Chadron 50, Valentine 31 Chadron 61, Valentine 54
2019 Custer 36, Valentine 17 Custer 54, Chadron 50
2020 Chadron 43, Valentine 19 Chadron 68, Custer 51
2021 Chadron 44, Valentine 22 Chadron 64, Hemingford 19
2022 Custer 34, Chadron 25 Custer 52, Chadron 38
2023 Chadron 52, Custer 45 Custer 62, Chadron 55