Norris books spot in the Nebraska girls basketball state tournament for the seventh straight season

For the seventh straight season, Norris will be one of the final eight teams standing in Class B girls basketball. By winning their district final at home on Saturday afternoon, the Titans have qualified for the 2026 NSAA Girls Basketball State Championship tournament, which begins next Thursday, March 5, for Class B schools.

The Titans have now qualified for every girls basketball state tournament since 2020. The #1 seed in their home district, this week Norris (22-3) blasted #5 Plattsmouth (6-18) 66-32 in the district semifinal on Wednesday, and then got past local rivals #2 Waverly (13-10) 40-25 in the district final on Saturday afternoon.

Head coach Wally Johnson came into the week stressing that his team needed to perform better on defense than it did over the final three or four games of the regular season. Well, mission accomplished to that end this week: the Titans normally permit 38 points per game on average but in two postseason games this week allowed just 57.

A very balanced and season team, Norris had three players (Kallen Stauffer - 13, Ray Wegner - 11 and CeCe Garner - 10) score in double figures against the Blue Devils, and then had two different players (Ize Tidball - 15 and Marlee Emerson - 14) score in double figures against the Vikings.

Norris has established itself as one of the very best teams in Class B girls basketball this season. Their three losses this season have come two fellow Class B frontrunner Bennington (twice, once in overtime) and to Marian, a Class A team, in the regular season finale.

And in fact, because of the quality of their wins this compared to Bennington's, Norris will head into the state tournament next week as the bracket's #1 overall seed. The Titans will begin the tournament against #8 Blair (17-7) at 1:30 PM on Thursday in Pinnacle Bank Arena. Should they win, their semifinal game would be at 6 PM on Friday, and the Class B championship game will start at 6:15 PM on Saturday.

Stay tuned as we finalize our coverage plans from the 2026 girls basketball state tournament on Ol' Red and KWBE.