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LINCOLN — The No. 1 Pender Pendragons are going to the Class D1 NSAA Girls Basketball State Championship game Saturday. On Friday, they defeated the No. 4 St. Mary’s Cardinals 48-39 in the quarterfinals at the Devaney Sports Center.
The 27-1 Pendragons stuck to their season philosophy of “play great defense.” While battling for every loose ball and limiting open shots, the Pender defense proved why it was the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
While the outcome favored the Pendragons, the start of the game told a different story. The Cardinals opened the game on a 7-0 run that opened Pender coach Jason Dolliver’s eyes.
“That was nerve-wracking,” Dolliver said. “We had to shrug that off and realized we got to start playing. What we say is either attack or be attacked, and we were getting attacked early.”
The Cardinals won offensive rebounds and got second-chance points early and often. Mya Hedstrom led the Cardinals with a game-high 20 points while Alissa Brabec tacked on 10.
However, Maya Dolliver was the spark plug who turned things around in the Friday morning match. Dolliver scored the first eight points for Pender and brought the game within two.
With the Pendragons still trailing, Maya Dolliver poked the ball out from atop the key before she took it coast-to-coast for a layup to make the game 10-9. The following possession resulted in a corner three hit by Avery Wegner, to put Pender ahead, a position in they didn’t leave.
Maya Dolliver’s left-handed layups proved to be problems for the Cardinals as she scored 14 points in the paint, eight from the left side. Her court awareness flourished as she drew the guard down from the corner, then served a pass for another open look. Her father and coach said her overall determination Dolliver showed singlehandedly turned the tides from the slow start.
“I’ll tell you what, that girl (Maya) is tough, she’s hard-nosed,” Jason Dolliver said. “Now we got a team full of us but when Maya wants something, watch out.”
Maya Dolliver provided that energy throughout the game as she led Pender with 18 points. Her sister, Madalyn Dolliver also provided a big offensive spark as she scored 12 points herself. The Dolliver sisters made the game an uphill battle for the Cardinals to overcome.
As the Pendragons head to the state championship game, Jason Dolliver said he knows what his role is: let the girls play.
“My dad taught me when I was a little boy to do everything I can to help the girls be successful,” Dolliver said. “In the end, they get it done, they do their thing. I just have this little teeny role on the side.”
Because the D1 title game is on Saturday, the Pender game plan won’t change.
“We need to just be us,” Dolliver said. “Play defense, rebound, and play together. They don’t have to do anything they haven’t done many, many, many times before. They just got to go do what they’ve done and what they’ve prepared for.
Southern Valley defeated MidState Conference powerhouse GACC to also advance to Saturday’s State title game against Pender in the Pinnacle Bank Arena.
