The second day of the 2021 girls state basketball tournament tipped off on Wednesday. Two Class B quarterfinal games and all four of the Class C-1 and D-2 quarterfinals were played Tuesday. Recaps of the Class B and C-1 games at Pinnacle Bank Arena can be found below.

Class B

Elkhorn North 35, Omaha Gross 28

In the school’s first ever state tournament game, Elkhorn North’s young team looked a bit wide-eyed on the big stage. The same could be said for the Omaha Gross Cougars, who made their first state appearance since 2015.

Elkhorn North led 20-17 at the half. The second half saw both teams held without a field goal in separate quarters. Gross took its second lead of the game since scoring the first basket at 23-22 with 1:58 left in the third.

Elkhorn North’s two points in the third came on two Molly Bruggeman free throws. After three the Cougars led 26-22. The roles reversed in the final stanza as Gross was held without a field goal and only two Sydney Herren free throws.

Elkhorn North was led by sophomore post Hannah Nadgwick with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Midland signee Rachel Culhane led Gross with 12 points and two steals.

Scottsbluff 34, Crete 20

Scottsbluff’s 6-foot-1 sophomore, Sabrina Harsh, scored a game-high 17 points and swatted a bunch of Cardinal shots to help the Bearcats advance to the Class B semifinals with a 34-20 win over defending state champ Crete on Wednesday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

It was an awfully low-scoring first half, as Crete led 8-7 after the first quarter. But Harsh and the Scottsbluff defense shut out the Cardinals in the second while the Bearcats’ Mariyah Avila had the only field goal in the quarter, which gave her team a 9-8 edge at halftime.

Things began to opened up in the second half for both teams, however. Scottsbluff outscored Crete 11-5 in the third to take a 20-13 lead heading into the fourth — the Bearcats got four points from Harsh and a 3 from California Wright during that stretch.

Crete wound up cutting its deficit to just two points, 22-20, early in the stanza after a layup from senior Alexis Mach, but Scottsbluff responded by ending the game on a 12-0 run. Harsh netted six of her 17 points in the final eight minutes.

Scottsbluff, the No. 6 seed, will play No. 2 Elkhorn North on Friday at 4 p.m. at PBA.

Class C-1

Winnebago 48, Grand Island Central Catholic 46

Winnebago keeps knocking off No. 1 seeds.

After defeating one-loss Malcolm in the district final last Friday, the Indians defeated top-seed Grand Island Central Catholic, 48-46, behind timely baskets from Natasha Deal and Keisha Snyder. Deal, a senior point guard, led the team with 16 points while Snyder, a senior forward, made three 3-pointers en-route to 14 points.

Central Catholic, which finished 21-3, was led by junior Alyssa Wilson, who made six 3-pointers for a game-high 18 points.

Winnebago moves to Friday’s 9 a.m. semifinal against defending champion North Bend Central.