For the rest of the high school girls basketball programs in the state of Nebraska, it might appear that Crofton will never be unseated as the Cornhusker State's dominant girls basketball program. Each year, it seems, the real battle is for No. 2.
The Warriors, who have competed in the state finals nine times over the past 16 seasons, played their way into MaxPreps' final Nebraska Top 25 14 times during that same time span. Crofton has captured six Class C2 state titles since 2006-07.
Aaron Losing's program also won Class C1 state championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Altogether, the Warriors have been to the state finals 13 times, taking the No. 3 spot behind only Lincoln Southeast (16) and South Sioux City (14). Crofton claimed the No. 1 spot in MaxPreps' final Nebraska Top 25 three times over the 16 years scored for this week's Top 10 and finished in the Top 10 nine times.
Hastings St. Cecilia has gone toe-to-toe with the Warriors four times in the Class C2 title game over the past 16 seasons and claimed the No. 2 spot this week with 317 points, 93 points behind Crofton. Class B power Seward rounds out the top three with 240 points after winning state titles in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Guardian Angels Central Catholic and Lincoln Pius X sit in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots respectively.
Classes A, B, C1, C2 and D1 are all represented in this week's Top 10. Wynot, one of Nebraska's premier small school powers, represents Class D2 with an 11th place finish out of the 115 schools that scored points for this week's Top 10. The Blue Devils finished with 185 points after winning seven state titles in 10 trips to the finals over the last 16 seasons.
The Blue Devils (D2/2010, D2/2011, D2012, D2/2013, D2/2014, D2/2015, D2/2016, D2/2017, D2/2019, D2/2020), Crofton (C1/2007, C2/2011, C2/2012, C2/2013, C2/2014, C2/2015, C2/2016, C2/2019, C2/2021), St. Cecilia (C1/2011, C2/2013, C2/2014, C2/2015, C2/2019, C2/2020, C1/2021, C2/2022), Bellevue West (A/2007, A/2009, A/2010, A/2011, A/2013, A/2014), Falls City Sacred Heart (D2/2007, D2/2015, D2/2017, D2/2018, D2/2019, D2/2021, D2/2022) and Humphrey St. Francis (D1/2007, D1/2014, D1/2018, D2/2020, D2/2021, D2/2022) are the only schools that have played in at least six state title contests over the last decade and a half.
MaxPreps has developed its own system in determining which girls basketball programs compete at the highest level over an extended period of time. Here is how the points for this week's Top 10 were accumulated:
1. 20 points for a state title
2. 10 points for finishing as a state runner-up
3. Other points are based on a team's Top 25 standing in the final MaxPreps Nebraska Computer Rankings presented by the Army National Guard. For instance, if a school claimed the top spot, it received 25 points, while a No. 25 ranking is good for one point.
Nebraska's Top 10 dominant girls basketball programs since 2006-07
1. Crofton — 410 points State titles: 7
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (6th), 2007-08 (12th), 2009-10 (24th), 2010-11 (16th), 2011-12 (8th), 2012-13 (3rd), 2013-14 (1st), 2014-15 (1st), 2015-16 (1st), 2016-17 (7th), 2018-19 (11th), 2019-20 (6th), 2020-21 (3rd), 2021-22 (15th).
2. St. Cecilia (Hastings) — 317 points State titles: 4
Runner-ups: 4
Top 25 state rankings: 2010-11 (7th), 2011-12 (25th), 2012-13 (18th), 2013-14 (7th), 2014-15 (8th), 2015-16 (13th), 2016-17 (16th), 2017-18 (4th), 2018-19 (1st), 2019-20 (3rd), 2020-21 (10th), 2021-22 (3rd).
3. Seward — 240 points State titles: 4
Runner-ups: 0
Top 25 state rankings: 2007-08 (15th), 2008-09 (4th), 2009-10 (1st), 2010-11 (2nd), 2011-12 (2nd), 2012-13 (11th), 2016-17 (17th), 2017-18 (15th), 2018-19 (7th).
4. Guardian Angels Central Catholic (West Point) — 237 points State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (17th), 2007-08 (14th), 2009-10 (11th), 2010-11 (19th), 2011-12 (13th), 2012-13 (16th), 2013-14 (12th), 2014-15 (5th), 2015-16 (3rd), 2016-17 (4th), 2019-20 (12th), 2020-21 (18th), 2021-22 (7th).
5. Pius X (Lincoln) — 236 points State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (24th), 2007-08 (8th), 2008-09 (6th), 2012-13 (22nd), 2013-14 (8th), 2014-15 (2nd), 2018-19 (8th), 2019-20 (1st), 2020-21 (2nd), 2021-22 (23rd).
6. Bellevue West (Bellevue) — 235 points State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 3
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (1st), 2008-09 (1st), 2009-10 (2nd), 2010-11 (3rd), 2012-13 (2nd), 2013-14 (9th), 2014-15 (19th).
7. Bishop Neumann (Wahoo) — 215 points State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2007-08 (7th), 2008-09 (3rd), 2009-10 (6th), 2013-14 (25th), 2015-16 (20th), 2016-17 (2nd), 2017-18 (8th), 2018-19 (2nd).
8. Lincoln Southeast (Lincoln) — 206 points State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (12th), 2007-08 (1st), 2008-09 (2nd), 2009-10 (9th), 2010-11 (8th), 2011-12 (3rd), 2012-13 (1st).
9. Millard West (Omaha) — 199 points State titles: 0
Runner-ups: 3
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (7th), 2007-08 (3rd), 2008-09 (7th), 2009-10 (4th), 2010-11 (5th), 2011-12 (11th), 2012-13 (9th), 2013-14 (11th), 2014-15 (20th), 2015-16 (14th).
10. Omaha Westside (Omaha) — 190 points State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (2nd), 2007-08 (21st), 2008-09 (11th), 2009-10 (3rd), 2010-11 (20th), 2014-15 (6th), 2017-18 (1st), 2018-19 (21st), 2019-20 (9th).
