LINCOLN, Neb.—Halle Dittrich and Sadie Rich scored 12 points apiece Saturday, and Elkhorn Valley held on to beat East Butler 57-52 in the Class D1 girls state championship game after squandering most of a 15-point lead in the second half.
The Falcons made 4 of 6 free throws in the final minute to hold off East Butler (22-4) and its star Marissa Bongers, who scored 18 of her game-high 20 points in the second half.
Elkhorn Valley’s only other state title came in 1982 in Class C. The Falcons (18-7) join 1982 Class D champion Humboldt as the only schools to win a girls state basketball title with as many as seven losses.
Six of Elkhorn Valley’s losses were to bigger schools, in Classes C1 and C2, and the other was to was to Class D2 semifinalist Chambers.
Rich, one of three Elkhorn Valley seniors playing in their fourth-straight state tournament, made 3 of 4 free throws in the last 34 seconds to help the Falcons make amends for blowing their big lead.
“I guess you could say we all relaxed, and it surprised us the way they came back in the second half,” Rich said.
Bongers had a chance to tie it with 1:01 left but missed one of two free throws. The Tigers got no closer. Rich hit two free throws to make it 55-52, and Bongers missed a shot and the Tigers committed a turnover on their final possessions.
Elkhorn Valley coach Brendan Dittmer said East Butler’s second-half charge made him plenty nervous. The Falcons committed 15 of their 25 turnovers as East Butler stormed back.
“They make me pull my hair out,” a smiling Dittmer said of his players. “When they made their run at us, we had to challenge ourselves to take care of the ball.”
Bongers, the Tigers’ all-time leading scorer, averaged 27.5 points in her team’s first two games at state. But she missed 7 of 8 shots in the first half and finished 7 of 25 from the field.
“She was a little nervous,” East Butler coach Gerry Reinsch said. “The thing that hurt us in the first half was fouls, and we had trouble getting rebounds. At the end, we made a good run. Just when I thought we were about to get them, they would step up and make a big shot or free throw.”
