LINCOLN — Visitors to Wahoo might find the place mostly deserted Saturday, and it's all because of the girls state basketball tournament.

The Class C-1 final will feature a rarity — two schools from the same town playing in the final. Defending state champion Wahoo Neumann will play at 11:30 a.m. against crosstown rival Wahoo High, which is seeking its first championship.

“We'll get a chance to play our friends from Wahoo,'' Cavaliers coach Rick Ahrens said. “There will be a lot of emotion, but it will be great for both programs.''

The teams played twice before the tournament, with Neumann winning on its home court 64-56 and the Warriors posting a 55-50 overtime win on a neutral court in the subdistrict final.

They have never met at the state tournament.

“They've got a lot of tradition,'' Wahoo coach Linda Walker said. “They're very good, so we'll need to try and use our athleticism and our speed to make things happen.''

This is Wahoo's first trip to the final and fourth trip to state. The Warriors' most recent trip to the tourney came in 2003, when they lost in the semifinals.

Neumann is making its 12th trip to state and third in a row. The Cavaliers lost to Norfolk Catholic in the 2008 final and defeated Bennington last year to earn the title.

“It's going to be intense, but it's going to be fun,'' Neumann junior forward Alyssa Stanek said. “I hope we can have our best game of the year.''

Familiar foe

Wahoo coach Linda Walker's knowledge of Saturday foe Wahoo Neumann extends back to her playing days at Battle Creek.

The former Linda Schnitzler was part of two state championship teams at that school in the mid-1980s. Coincidentally, Battle Creek defeated Neumann both of those years in the final.

“They've been good for a long time,'' she said. “It's always a big deal to play them.''

Snowy effect

Fans undoubtedly remember the blizzard a few years ago that struck the night before the girls state tournament, leading to an eerily unpopulated Devaney Center for a number of first-round games.

The snow is having another effect on attendance this season, but in a different way.

A Nebraska School Activities Association official said Thursday's first-day attendance was lower than last year in part because some schools did not allow their students to attend the tourney this year. Chalk that up to the high number of snow days that many schools already have been forced to use.

Some consolation

While some coaches and players aren't too excited about playing in Saturday's consolation games, Alliance's Jordan Hooper said she was looking forward to it.

“I'd love to play one more game,'' she said. “I'm not ready for basketball season to come to an end.''

Hooper scored 24 points Friday, but it wasn't enough, as the Bulldogs lost to Gretna 58-39 in a Class B semifinal.

An eclectic mix

The Seward student section won the award for the wildest dressed bunch at the Devaney on Friday.

The group included a kid dressed as a big rabbit, a kid wearing a tutu, a kid dressed as a banana and a kid dressed as a duck.

Or maybe it was a chicken.

— Mike Patterson

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