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Some Nebraska high school girls basketball teams have taken to heart the cliché, "You've got to beat the best to be the best." And while some programs have met that theory with plenty of success, most have not.
As we dove into our Nebraska high school girls basketball rankings and sifted through the strength of schedule data, we discovered that some of the Cornhusker State's premier basketball programs play schedules that match their own level of play.
Lincoln Christian and Bishop Neumann, the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in this week's Top 10, just happen to be ranked fifth and second respectively in the latest MaxPreps girls basketball rankings, which came out Tuesday. In fact, those two powerhouses have split a pair of games already this season.
The Cavaliers won the first go-round 47-42 in the Centennial Conference tournament in late January, while the Crusaders dished out a little payback 44-33 at Bishop Neumann five days later. Columbus Scotus also resides in our latest ratings at No. 10, while Waverly has put together a 12-7 campaign through Tuesday's action, and holds down the state's fourth toughest slate to date. Norris rounds out the Top 5.
Six of the school's represented this week have played their way into the Top 5 of their respective classifications, while all but three of them reside in the Top 10 of those same MaxPreps rankings.
Because the larger schools do play stiffer competition on a regular basis, schools competing in Classes D1 and D2 did not make this week's cut. But we're going to go ahead and look at the top schedule in those classifications as well.
Class D1's fifth-ranked Guardian Angels Central Catholic has put together a solid campaign despite playing the most difficult schedule of the Cornhusker State's smaller classifications, while Class D2's No. 14 Riverside gets credit for banging with Class D2's most brutal slate.
Check out Nebraska's Top 10 toughest girls basketball schedules below. We have listed the school, (school's record through Tuesday), opponent's combined record and MaxPrep's strength of schedule rating as of Tuesday.
Nebraska's Top 10 toughest girls basketball schedules1.
Lincoln Christian (14-3), 202-109, 13.3
2.
Bishop Neumann (Wahoo) (16-3), 227-118, 12.3
3.
Scotus (Columbus) (13-5), 212-121, 11.6
4.
Waverly (12-7), 204-135, 11.5
5.
Norris (Firth) (6-10), 183-103, 11.4
6.
Omaha Westside (15-1), 140-136, 11.3
7.
St. Cecilia (Hastings) (16-2), 208-124, 11.1
8.
Crete (10-9), 191-146, 10.1
9.
Pius X (Lincoln) (11-6), 175-117, 9.8
10.
North Star (Lincoln) (1-16), 165-135, 9.7
