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 basketball program. Each year, it seems, the real battle is for No. 2.
The Warriors, who have competed in the state finals seven times over the past decade, played their way into MaxPreps' final Nebraska Top 25 nine times over the last 10 years. Crofton has captured six Class C2 state titles since 2011-12.
Aaron Losing's program also won Class C1 state championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007. All together, the Warriors have been to the state finals 13 times, to take 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 10 years scored, and finished in the Top 10 eight times.
Hastings St. Cecilia has gone toe-to-toe with the Warriors four times in the Class C2 title game over the past decade and claimed the No. 2 spot this week with 235 points, 88 points behind Crofton. Class A power Lincoln Pius X rounds out the top three after winning state titles in 2015, 2020 and 2021. Guardian Angels Central Catholic and Lincoln Christian round out the Top Five in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots respectively.
Classes A, B, C1, C2 and D2 are all represented in this week's Top 10. Howells-Dodge, one of Nebraska's premier small school powers, represents Class D1 with a 34th place finish out of the 96 schools that scored points for this week's Top 10. The Jaguars finished with 52 points after winning a state title in two trips to the finals over the last 10 seasons.
Falls City Sacred Heart (Class D2), Omaha Westside (Class A), Bishop Neumann (Class C1) and Millard South (Class A) all missed out on the Top 10 despite accumulating 100 points or more. Having played in more state finals and earnied more Top 25 rankings at season's end, Kearney Catholic takes the tie-breaker over Grand Island Northwest.
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 dominant girls basketball programs over the past decade
1. Crofton — 323 pointsState titles: 6
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2011-12 (8), 2012-13 (3), 2013-14 (1), 2014-15 (1), 2015-16 (1), 2016-17 (7), 2018-19 (11), 2019-20 (6), 2020-21 (3).
2. St. Cecilia (Hastings) — 235 points
State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 4
Top 25 state rankings: 2011-12 (25), 2012-13 (18), 2013-14 (7), 2014-15 (8), 2015-16 (13), 2016-17 (16), 2017-18 (4), 2018-19 (1), 2019-20 (3), 2020-21 (10).
3. Pius X (Lincoln) — 183 points
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2012-13 (22), 2013-14 (8), 2014-15 (2), 2018-19 (8), 2019-20 (1), 2020-21 (2).
4. Guardian Angels Central Catholic (West Point) — 175 points
State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2011-12 (13), 2012-13 (16), 2013-14 (12), 2014-15 (5), 2015-16 (3), 2016-17 (4), 2019-20 (12), 2020-21 (18).
5. Lincoln Christian (Lincoln) — 172 points
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 3
Top 25 state rankings: 2014-15 (12), 2015-16 (2), 2016-17 (1), 2017-18 (3), 2018-19 (9), 2019-20 (7).
6. Wynot — 155 points
State titles: 6
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2015-16 (19), 2019-20 (18).
7. Kearney Catholic (Kearney) — 141 points
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 3
Top 25 state titles: 2012-13 (13), 2013-14 (10), 2014-15 (9), 2015-16 (4), 2016-17 (3).
8. Northwest (Grand Island) — 141 points
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 0
Top 25 state rankings: 2012-13 (5), 2013-14 (2), 2018-19 (3), 2019-20 (13).
9. Pierce — 139 points
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 0
Top 25 state rankings: 2012-13 (8), 2013-14 (3), 2014-15 (7), 2015-16 (7).
10. Norris (Firth) — 134 points
State titles: 0
Runner-ups: 4
Top 25 state rankings: 2011-12 (7), 2012-13 (12), 2013-14 (13), 2014-15 (13), 2016-17 (12), 2020-21 (5).
