The Dorchester girls’ basketball team started the D2 state tournament by defeating fifth seeded Silver Lake 38-37 on March 6 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in the first round.
Dorchester then defeated Wilcox-Hildreth 39-31 in the second round of the tournament on March 7, but fell to Falls City Sacred Heart 52-25 in the championship game on March 8.
“What a tournament it was,” Coach Brandon Bruha said. “It was nice to accomplish our goal of making it to state, but to end up in the finals was something I honestly thought wouldn’t happen.”
Against Silver Lake, Dorchester jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in the first quarter, but trailed for a majority of the first half.
Dorchester trailed 10-9 at the end of the first quarter and 22-20 at halftime, but the Longhorns held Silver Lake at 28 points for roughly 11 minutes in the second half to build a 36-28 lead halfway through the fourth quarter.
Silver Lake found ways to score in the last four minutes, cutting Dorchester’s lead down to just a point at one time. Down 37-35, Silver Lake made a free throw but the shot wasn’t counted because of a lane violation, which ended up being the point that Silver Lake needed.
Silver Lake got multiple second chance opportunities in the game and out rebounded the Longhorns 39-33, but Dorchester got late rebounds when it mattered.
Both teams didn’t shoot well from three, only making one of 37 shots combined, 0-21 from Silver Lake.
Baylor Behrens led the Longhorns with 20 points and had six rebounds. Gabby Theis scored eight points and had eight rebounds and Bailey Theis added five points.
Against Wilcox-Hildreth, Dorchester fell behind early in the contest, trailing 6-4 at the end of the first quarter and even trailed 10-4 at one point early in the second quarter, but the Longhorns clawed back to take a lead late in the second quarter and took a 16-15 lead into halftime.
The second half was a strong one for Dorchester as the defense stepped up and held the Falcons scoreless for over half a quarter at the end of the third and into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter and tied at 30, Bailey Theis made back-to-back layups with 1:57 left in the game. A few late free throws from Behrens and Gabby Theis would be good enough for the win.
Gabby Theis led the Longhorns with a double double, 15 points and 11 rebounds. Bailey Theis scored 11 points and Behrens scored six points.
“All tournament long, we did a good job of grinding things out,” Bruha said. “We didn’t have our best offensive performance during the tournament, but our defense stepped up once again for us. Our girls are tough. They love to dig in and play hard and that drive and motivation is what helped us advance and move on all the way to the finals.”
Against Sacred Heart, It was a close first half as Sacred Heart jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Dorchester got on the board quickly and took a 6-5 lead late in the first quarter. Sacred Heart ended the first quarter with a three to lead 8-6.
The second quarter didn’t go as well for the Longhorns, as Sacred Heart built on its lead, which forced Dorchester to burn a timeout and regroup midway through the second quarter.
Dorchester closed the gap at the end of the quarter, but still trailed 20-13 at the half.
“We just couldn’t buy a basket,” Bruha said. “Our defense is what kept us in the game the first half. Only being down seven at halftime, I thought that was pretty good and was hoping our offense would pick up in the second half but it never really did.”
The second half was a struggle both offensively and defensively for the Longhorns, only scoring 12 and giving up 32 to the Irish, including a 15-0 run in the last 4:58 to end the game by the Irish.
Dorchester had a tough time getting shots to fall again, only making 3-25 from three, 9-47 from the floor and 4-12 from the free throw line.
Lily Lehr led the Longhorns with 10 points and grabbed four rebounds. Bailey Theis scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds and Atley Zoubek scored five points.
“In all I am very proud of this team,” Bruha said. “These girls put in a lot of time and to see them have this type of success and getting to play on the big stage is something I will never forget and our community will never forget. Dorchester fans packed Pinnacle Bank and Devaney every game and the girls and I can’t thank them enough for the support.”
Zoubek, Behrens and Gabby Theis were the three seniors for the Longhorns.
“To the seniors Baylor Behrens, Gabrielle Theis and Atley Zoubek I want to say thank you for all your hard work and dedication to this program. You three led us to something that has never happened in school history. You brought a community together and inspired a lot of young lady longhorn basketball players to come,” Bruha said.
Dorchester ended the season 25-3.
