Snowstorm can't keep Tigers from Lincolnby Nathan Arneal March is known for its madness when it comes to basketball tournaments. But in Nebraska, it might as well refer to the weather, where the third month is just as likely to offer up 75 degree days as a crippling snowstorm.
Sometimes all the madness intertwines, like it did last week as Nebraska was hit with a blizzard while North Bend Central and dozens of other schools around the state were making their way to Lincoln for the girls state basketball tournament. Two Sundays ago, March 2, the region was enjoying the first early warmth of spring, with temperatures reaching the 60s in North Bend. But the forecast was looking downright wintery. NBC administrative assistant Whitney Armstrong started a text exchange with principal Brenda Petersen, activities director Jon Baehr and head girls basketball coach Aaron Sterup asking them what the plan of attack should be. Understandably, Sterup wanted to wait until the last possible moment to make any decisions on getting hotel rooms, preferring to have his team sleep at home. Petersen told Armstrong to start looking for rooms just to have them if needed. Trying to find the closest hotel possible to the Devaney Center without going downtown, she called a couple of different places. The closest was a little more expensive and didn’t include breakfast, so she went with one on 27th Street about a 10-minute drive from the arena. Later Sunday night, Baehr told her to book rooms for the cheer and dance teams as well. In all, the NBC traveling party booked 14 rooms for the basketball team and its coaches, cheer and dance teams and their sponsors and trainer Hannah Jones. The hotel told Armstrong the rooms could be canceled as late at Tuesday night if the forecast changed. On Monday, Armstrong began looking for a gym in Lincoln for the Tigers to practice at Tuesday afternoon if need be. “I worked Monday to book a practice gym,” Armstrong said, “which was the most painful process in the world in a big town.” She started by calling the closest middle school north of Devaney, Goodrich. After waiting for someone to call her back, she was told she needed to talk to the school’s AD. The school’s AD told her, no, she needs to talk to the logistics person. The logistics person told her the Goodrich gym is set up for a music event, but NBC could use the gym at Mickel Middle School. It was a little farther away from the hotel the team had booked, but it would do. Just to make sure the team got a practice in, Sterup decided to practice before school Tuesday, telling his team to pack their bags and be ready to leave for Lincoln at a moment’s notice Tuesday. While the bus was loaded and standing by, Petersen said the goal was to make it to the end of the school day, which finished with a pep rally, before leaving. NBC met that goal, and right after school the basketball team boarded the bus and the cheer and dance teams climbed into vans for the trip south by 4 p.m. It was starting to rain. The team received the traditional escort out of town by fire trucks with sirens and lights blazing. Petersen followed the caravan in a school car. “Once we hit that it was totally different,” Petersen said. “Jim Dodge is a wonderful bus driver. I was super confident in him.” Dodge is no stranger to state tournament adventures. As the former girls basketball coach, he took Tiger teams to six tournaments, including state titles in 1999 and 2001. However, the 1998 tournament was as memorable as any of them. That year the Tigers headed home after beating Grand Island CC in the state semifinals. The NSAA told North Bend to get back to Lincoln as soon as it could so the approaching weather wouldn’t cause any problems. So after packing their overnight bags, the team headed back to Lincoln Saturday morning before its 7 p.m. championship game that night. The Tigers held a walk through at Lincoln Christian during the day. “I knew we were in trouble when we got inside and half of them don’t even have their shoes,” Dodge recalled. “‘Well, we thought we were just going to shoot around.’ You’re not going to just shoot around. What do you think?” Read the full story in the print or e-edition. <<Back to the front page |
