Bobcat Girls Knock Off Cambridge

Erik Buderus eburderus@hastingstribune.com BLUE HILL — Back in late December, when the Blue Hill girls basketball team opened the season 1-6, few would have thought the team would be where it’s at today. Headed to Lincoln. The Bobcats capped their impressive run through the Class C-2, District 5 tournament, posting a 57-42 victory over Cambridge at C.L. Jones Gymnasium in Minden to secure a bid to next week’s state tournament. Blue Hill (14-8) will unofficially open the tournament as the No. 8 seed against No. 1 and undefeated Elmwood-Murdock (23-0), at 2 p.m. at Lincoln High Thursday. The Bobcats will enter that game as heavy underdogs, but that is nothing new to the team — in fact, that’s part of what helped fuel their run through the district tournament. The Bobcats entered the subdistrict tournament as the No. 4 seed, knocking off Gibbon, then upsetting top-seeded Sandy Creek and second-seeded Shelton, before topping the No. 1 seed out of the other half of the bracket, Cambridge, Friday night. “I’ve never been more proud of another team I’ve coached in my 17 years. These girls are warriors. They just find ways to win,” Blue Hill coach Tim Streff said. “I told them before the game, that I’ve had teams in this position before. Those that came out and played not to lose, lost. Those that came out after it won. These girls came out after it. “The glass slipper has fit us pretty well so far — right now, we want to keep that thing on.”