After a 17 year drought, the Hastings High girls basketball team has finally made it rain. Last Friday night was the district B-5 championship game. Holdrege was the home team with a record of 16-7. Hastings was the visiting team with a record of 12-11.
“Holdrege thought they were great team and they thought that outloud. I told the girls that quiet confidence is key,” Assistant Coach Pete Theoharis said.
Elizabeth Fransen got the jump ball and passed it off to Taylor Hinrichs, who then gave it to Sophia Pankratz. On paper, Holdrege should have won, but the Tigers didn’t care about paper.
“We spent all week practicing and getting mentally focused. In order to beat them, we had to crash the boards and rebound. We are a great rebounding team. Coach told us rebounds win championships,” senior Taylor Hinrichs said.
At first the Tigers were down 11-4, but with stellar defense, fantastic rebounds, and good offense the Tigers took the lead and the Holdrege Dusters only came within 4 points once the rest of the game.
“I got a little nervous when they (Holdrege) caught up. But, this was our game, we earned it,” junior Ashley Craig said.
Hastings High got the last rebound with 45 seconds left. Sophia Pankratz, grinning, had the ball and with less than five seconds left, she dribbled over to the sideline and she and the rest of the Tigers went ballistic. A barrage of Hastings fans stormed the court to celebrate. Year of the Sheep? More Like year of the Tigers.