The Dundy County Stratton Tigers and the Alma Cardinals Will Battle on Saturday for the 2026 Girls RPAC Basketball Championship

On Thursday evening, January 29th, the Girls RPAC Basketball Tournament continued. The West was hosted in Wallace and the East at Southwest. Each location had a trio of games.

First, the consolation bracket games. Teams in the tournament's consolation bracket played their final games on Thursday evening.

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On the West, it was #5 seed Hitchcock County versus #7 seeded Maxwell. In the first, it was a close one; Maxwell led 18-14 at the intermission.

This game remained close, and Maxwell took the victory, 41-37. Emory Christensen scored 19 for Maxwel,l and Kristyn Cheek had 11.

For the Falcons, Asia Homma had 8 points, and Kalissa Hagan had 7.

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On the East, it was #5 seeded Southern Valley against #6 seeded Bertrand. Scoring was hard to come by in this one as Southern Valley led 18-2 at halftime.

In the second half for Southern Valley, the offense picked up and they won 47-13. Adrian Sand had five points to lead Bertrand. For Southern Valley, Emercen Lovitt had 20 points along with four three-pointers, and Tori Bose had 14 points.

As a team, the Eagles had nine three-pointers.

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The second game of the evening on the West was #3 seeded Paxton against #4 seed Wauneta-Palisade. In the first half this was a low scoring game as Wauneta-Palisade led 14-12 at the intermission.

This one went right down the wire, as Paxton won, 38-35.

For the Broncos, Kamryn Fanning scored 15.

For Paxton, Ella Fote had 13, and Jakcee Mitchell added 11.

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For the East side, the second game was #3 seed Cambridge against #4 Southwest. Cambridge was able to claim a small lead at the half, 22-17.

Cambridge was able to come away with the win 39-26.

For Southwest, Aspen Billieter and Anikka Nelms each scored nine points in the game.

Brooklyn Holtze had 11 points, and Joslyn Holtze had 9 for the Trojans.

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Now for the semifinal matchups.

On the West side, it was #1 seeded Maywood-Hayes Center versus #2 seed Dundy County Stratton. These two teams are regarded as some of the top squads in their respective classes: D1 for MHC and D2 for DCS.

Dundy County Stratton won this entertaining game, 54-46.

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MHC came out strong, leading 10-2 early on. They hit a couple of early threes and had some easy buckets underneath as well. DCS took a time-out in the first quarter to weather the storm. They were down. 12-4 2:45 seconds to go in the first.

MHC led heading to the second 12-9.

The Tigers did a good job of climbing back into the game. They took the lead 16-15 with about 5:30 to go in the half.

The Tigers took a lead at halftime, 27-21.

The Wolves came out of the half on a little run, and a timeout was taken by the Tigers. 31-29 with 5:52 in the third quarter was the Tiger lead.

In the third, DCS had a number of opportunities at the free-throw line, but struggled to convert. 2-15 from the line in the quarter. Despite the foul trouble, the Wolves were down 37-34 heading to the fourth.

Out of the quarter break, Caylie Softley hit a layup and a three, and the Wolves went up 39-37 early in the period.

Later in the game, Emily Schack and Abi Spargo had layups for the Tigers, and Karissa Stengel of MHC hit a couple too. It was 44-44 with 1:53 to go in the game.

Kim Escobar for the Tigers went 6-6 from the free-throw line late in the game to seal the victory.

For MHC, Caylie Softley led the way with 22 points. Karissa Stengel had 13. The Wolves were 4-7 from the free-throw line in the game.

For DCS, Abi Spargo scored 30 points. Clara Spargo scored 12 points, and Kim Escobar had 10. The Tigers were 13-37 from the free-throw line in the game.

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For the East side, it was #1 Alma versus #2 Arapahoe. Alma was able to move on to the RPAC title game with a 57-35 victory.

It was a back-and-forth scoring battle right from the jump. Alma won the jump and capitalized, striking first to take the 2-0 lead. Arapahoe evened the score at 2-2 after a pair of free throws from Sawyer Shafer.

The Cardinals went down the court and had an answer to go on a mini-run to extend their lead to 6-2.

The Warriors had an answer and hit back-to-back threes to take the 8-6 lead.

The two squads went back and forth for much of the first quarter, and Arapahoe led at the end of the first, 16-12.

Alma got the ball out of the break and had started to settle into the flow of the game as Vayden Epp hit a three from the top of the key. They were able to extend their lead to 25-16 before Arapahoe had an answer.

The Warriors pulled within seven, 29-22, before Alma created a lead heading into the half, 31-24.

Arapahoe struck first out of the half to cut the deficit. Alma extended the lead to 37-26 with 3:37 left in the third quarter, forcing Arapahoe to call a timeout.

Alma kept the pressure on the Warriors to enter the fourth quarter with a 46-29 lead.

The Cardinals crashed the glass hard and forced the Warriors to turn the ball over, which set up their transition offense. Alma took a 52-33 lead to force an Arapahoe timeout with 2:35 left in the game.

Alma went on to win the game, 57-35.

The Warriors were led by Sawyer Shafer with 22 points.

The Cardinals were led by Kamryn Scott with 24 points, Vayden Epp with 11 points, and Kamri Neal with 10 points.

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#2 in the East, Arapahoe, will face #2 in the West, Maywood-Hayes Center, at 2:00 P.M. CT at the Graff Events Center at McCook Community College for the 3rd and 4th place game.

#1 in the East, Alma, will face #1 in the West, Dundy County Stratton, at 5:30 P.M. CT at the Graff Events Center at McCook Community College for the title game.

Alma is seeking its first-ever RPAC Title for Girls Basketball. This will be their first RPAC championship game since 2022. They fell to MHC that season.

For DCS, the last time they won an RPAC Title for Girls Basketball was 2019. Their last appearance in the championship game was in 2020. They are looking for their sixth RPAC Girls Basketball Title.

Check out the updated bracket.