Sidney girls named top seed in district play

The Red Raiders earned the top seed in the upcoming Class B District 6 basketball tournament it was announced Tuesday morning.

As the No. 1 seed Sidney will play the winner of the play-in game from Feb. 25. The Raiders will face either No. 4 Alliance (4-15) or No. 5 Scottsbluff (2-17) on Thu. Feb. 27, at 5 p.m. All games in the B6 tournament will be played at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff.

Following Sidney’s game on Feb. 27, No. 2 Gering (12-11) will take on No. 3 McCook (11-11) at 6:30 p.m. The championship game will take place the following evening at 6:30 p.m.

“We are happy to earn the number one seed, but we have to understand that doesn’t guarantee us anything,” said Raiders Head Coach Tyler Shaw. “We have had a good record versus the district and a good seeding in the past and have been bounced early. It is difficult to play and beat teams three to four times.”

Sidney still has one game left on its regular-season schedule at Alliance on Friday. To date the Raiders have amassed a 14-7 overall record and are 7-1 in the district. The only blemish in B6 was a 54-52 setback at McCook on Jan. 11. Sidney has gotten the best of Scottsbluff on three occasions this year and turned back Alliance and Gering twice each.

The loss to McCook was the only meeting of these two teams.

“We must focus on doing the little things right in practice and in games,” said Shaw. “Doing the little things correctly is what got us here in the first place.”