It’s been awhile since the Centennial girls’ basketball team has played at the state tournament.
Since 1999, to be precise.
The Broncos can add 2021 to their tournament appearance list after beating Sutton 49-46 in overtime to win the district final Feb. 26.
“It’s been a long time coming for the team and the school,” Coach Jake Polk said.
The Broncos (23-2) played top-seeded Crofton March 3 in the Class C2 state tournament opener and came up short 62-37. Read more about the game in next week's Independent.
The district title game was the third meeting between Centennial and Sutton this season. Centennial won the first two 47-40 and 38-28.
Polk said the Broncos knew the gym would be loud for the district final, so the team worked on hand signals to call their plays.
He said the subdistrict loss to Cross County the week before, also played in a very loud gym, helped prepare for that atmosphere.
The Broncos knew Sutton would try to pressure them, but CHS was able to handle the pressure. The Broncos limited their turnovers until the end of the game when both teams were tired, Polk said.
Centennial also wanted to shoot better from outside, he said. CHS made no three-pointers against Cross County but was able to go 6-21 from beyond the arc against Sutton.
The bench came up big for the Broncos, the coach said. Jaci Opfer came in to score 10 points, hitting a pair of big three-pointers.
“She is a special player. She’s capable of doing that at any time,” Polk said. “She’s been a dynamic athlete for us.”
He was happy to see the Broncos finish with 13 assists, led by seven from Kate Hirschfeld. He said Sutton focused on shutting down Hirschfeld’s offense, but the senior did a good job distributing the ball.
Asia Nisly led the team with 12 points. Jaycee Stuhr scored nine, and Daylee Dey contributed eight. Kiley Rathjen grabbed nine rebounds.
“It was great to see others step up and put the ball in the hoop,” Polk said.
