Ogallala Girls' fall to Gothenburg in High School Varsity Basketball in the first round of State Tournament

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By: Evan Troxel

The #4 seeded Ogallala Indians Girls' High School Varsity basketball team lost to the $5 Gothenburg Swedes in the first round of the State Tournament by a final score of 70 to 63 on Thursday, March 5th, 2026, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Ogallala blew a 12-point halftime lead and couldn't recover once Gothenburg took the lead in the fourth quarter.

Ogallala led by 16, 44 to 28, early in the third quarter.

In a game absolutely littered with fouls, especially against Ogallala, it is a game that hopefully won't be repeated again anytime soon by the players, and perhaps much more importantly, by the referees...because it was truly awful.

The referees wouldn't let the players just go out there and play without a whistle being blown for much of the game! It seemed like a whistle was being blown once every 30 to 45 seconds of total elapsed time and not game clock time.

Ogallala had three people foul out and two others who had four fouls.

Gothenburg had just one player with four fouls and one player with three fouls by my tallies.

Gothenburg fouled Ogallala at least 16 times while Ogallala fouled Gothenburg at least 29 times.

Halsey Thomalla scored 32 points for Gothenburg. She made zero three-pointers and ten free throws!

Aniston O'Neil scored 20 points for Ogallala. She made four three-pointers and four free throws!

To start the game, Zoe Beveridge drained a three-pointer for Gothenburg.

Then, Shaydyn Rasby swished only the first of two free throws for Ogallala and Gothenburg led 3-1.

After a couple of free throw misses by Ogallala, Halsey Thomalla then made a two-pointer for Gothenburg, but missed the free throw immediately afterward to complete the three-point play.

Hayden Shaw then made a three and Ogallala trailed 5 to 4.

Addison Powell then made the first and third of three free throws and Ogallala led 6 to 5.

Halsey Thomalla then made a two-pointer and the Swedes retook the lead at 7 to 6 with 3:49 remaining in the first quarter.

Aniston O'Neil then made back-to-back threes for Ogallala and the Indians led 12 to 7.

After Halsey Thomalla, made only the second of two free throws for the Swedes, Aniston O'Neil drilled another three for Ogallala.

Lindly Anderson then hit a big three for Gothenburg and Ogallala led 15 to 11.

After a couple of Ogallala free throw misses, Zoe Beveridge made two free throws for Gothenburg.

Aniston O'Neil then made two free throws and Ogallala led 17 to 13 with 1:21 left in the first quarter.

Zoe Beveridge then only made the second of two free throws and Halsey Thomalla only made the first of two free throws for the Swedes.

After two more missed free throws by Ogallala for a third time in the quarter, Grace Evert made a two-pointer for Gothenburg and the game was tied at 17 after one quarter.

Ogallala missed eight free throws in the first quarter while Gothenburg missed four free throws in the first quarter.

To start the second quarter, Addison Slama made a three-pointer for Ogallala.

Halsey Thomalla only made the second of two free throws for Gothenburg.

Shaydyn Rasby and Aniston O'Neil each made a two-pointer for Ogallala and they led 24 to 18 with 6:17 left in the second quarter.

After a couple of free throw misses from Gothenburg, Addison Slama made her second three of the quarter and Ogallala led 27 to 18.

Zoe Beveridge then made a three-pointer for the Swedes.

Aniston O'Neil then made a two-pointer and the free throw immediately afterward and Ogallala led 30 to 21.

Aniston O'Neil then drained a three-pointer for the Indians.

Shaydyn Rasby then picked up her fourth foul of the game for Ogallala and Zoe Beveridge then made only the second of two free throws for Gothenburg and Ogallala led 33 to 22 with 3:05 remaining in the second quarter.

Zoe Beveridge then scored a three for the Swedes with 2:15 remaining in the quarter.

Halsey Thomalla then only made the first of two free throws and Ogallala led 33 to 26.

Sadie Flansburg then made back-to-back free throws for Ogallala and the Indians led 35 to 26.

Addison Slama and Aniston O'Neil then each both made only the first of two free throws and Ogallala led 37 to 26.

Lindly Anderson then made a two-pointer for Gothenburg.

Addison Slama then connected on a three and Ogallala led 40 to 28 after two quarters at halftime.

Gothenburg missed five free throws in the second quarter and nine free throws in the first half. Ogallala missed just two free throws in the second quarter and ten free throws in the first half.

In the first half, the top scorers for Gothenburg were Zoe Beveridge with 13 points, Halsey Thomalla scored eight points and Lindly Anderson scored five points.

For Ogallala in the first half, the top scorers were Aniston O'Neil with 20 points and Addison Slama with ten points.

To start the third quarter, Hayden Shaw made a two-pointer and Laney Caskey made two free throws and Ogallala led 44 to 28.

Zoe Beveridge made two free throws for Gothenburg and Halsey Thomalla made a two-pointer and a free throw immediately afterwards to complete a three-point play and Ogallala led 44 to 33 with 5:13 left in the third period!

Zoe Beveridge then made another three for Gothenburg.

After Ogallala missed two free throws, Halsey Thomalla made another two and the score at that point was Ogallala 44 and Gothenburg 38.

After two more Ogallala missed free throws (four in the quarter at that point), Riley McClay hit a three for Gothenburg and Ogallala led by just four by a score of 45 to 41 with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.

Laney Caskey picked up her fourth foul for Ogallala at this point.

Halsey Thomalla made back-to-back free throws for Gothenburg.

After a couple of Gothenburg free throw misses, Aliyah Carlson only made the first of two free throws for the Swedes and they trailed by just one with 1:30 to go in the third quarter.

Shaydyn Rasby then made a two-pointer and a free throw immediately afterwards for Ogallala and the Indians led by three.

Halsey Thomalla then made back-to-back two-point baskets for the Swedes and the game was tied at 48 after three quarters!

Ogallala missed four free throws in the third quarter and 14 free throws in the game after three quarters.

Gothenburg missed three free throws in the third quarter and 12 free throws in the game after three quarters.

To start the fourth quarter, Shaydyn Rasby made a two-pointer for Ogallala.

Then, Halsey Thomalla made another two-pointer and the game was tied at 50!

Thomalla then made another two and Gothenburg took the lead for the remainder of the game.

Laney Caskey then only made the second of two free throws for Ogallala and Gothenburg led 52 to 51 with 5:24 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Halsey Thomalla then made two free throws and Gothenburg led by three.

Thomalla then made a two-pointer and Gothenburg led 56 to 51 with 4:14 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Halsey Thomalla then made a two-pointer and a free throw immediately afterwards for the Swedes.

Laney Caskey then had a quick two for Ogallala and a free throw make immediately afterwards and Gothenburg led 59 to 54 with 3:50 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Halsey Thomalla then scored again for Gothenburg on a two-point basket.

Laney Caskey made another two-pointer and Gothenburg led 61 to 56 with 2:56 left in the fourth quarter.

Zoe Beveridge then made back-to-back free throws for the Swedes and they led by seven.

Laney Caskey then made a two-pointer and a free throw immediately afterwards and Gothenburg led 63 to 59 with 2:11 to go in the fourth quarter.

Ellie Wyatt then made two free throws for Gothenburg.

Laney Caskey then made another two-pointer for Ogallala and Gothenburg led 65 to 61 with 1:04 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Ellie Wyatt made a couple more free throws for Gothenburg.

Then, Laney Caskey made another two for Ogallala and the Swedes led 67 to 63 with 39 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Ellie Wyatt then made two more free throws for Gothenburg, but I don't think one of her free throw makes officially counted at the end of the game for some odd reason.

So Gothenburg led by six, 69 to 63 with 26 seconds remaining.

Gothenburg then missed back-to-back free throws.

Zoe Beveridge then made back-to-back free throws and the final score officially was 70 to 63 in favor of Gothenburg, although I felt like Gothenburg technically scored 71 points in the game and Ellie Wyatt should totally be rewarded with six points (and six free throw makes) for Gothenburg and not five points.

Gothenburg missed three free throws officially in the fourth quarter and missed 15 free throws in the entire game.

Ogallala missed one free throw in the fourth quarter and missed 15 free throws in the entire game.

For Gothenburg, Zoe Beveridge scored 22 points. She made four three-pointers and ten free throws!

Lindly Anderson scored five points. She made one three-pointer.

Ellie Wyatt also scored five points by making five free throws!

Riley McClay totaled three points by making a three-pointer.

Grace Evert made a two-pointer and scored two points.

Aliyah Carlson made a free throw and totaled one point.

For Ogallala, Laney Caskey scored 16 points. She made six free throws!

Addison Slama scored ten points. She made three three-pointers and one free throw!

Shaydyn Rasby scored eight points. She made two free throws.

Hayden Shaw scored five points. She made one three-pointer.

Addison Powell and Sadie Flansburg each scored two points by making two free throws.

Ogallala ends their season winning 21 games and losing just five games.

The Indians will have to figure out a way to get a lot better without the Ogallala High School Class of 2026 between now and when the basketball season gets started up again in late November/early December 2026.

The Swedes are now 22-4 on the season.

Gothenburg defeated Ogallala in the season series two games to one.

The Swedes won one game in Ogallala in the regular season and lost one game in Ogallala in the Subdistrict Final.

The Swedes have ended the Indians season each of the last three seasons (including this season). This year for Ogallala, it happened in Lincoln and not in Gothenburg.

Gothenburg ended Ogallala's season this year in the first round of the State Tournament, last year in the District Final and two years ago in the Subdistrict Final.

#1 Milford (now 26-1) defeated #8 Central City (now 24-4) 37 to 34. Gothenburg will play Milford in the Semifinal of the State Tournament at 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Friday, March 6th, 2026, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena.

#7 Fort Calhoun (now 25-2) defeated the Class C1 defending champions, the #2 Lincoln Christian Crusaders (now 24-3), in overtime 57 to 56.

#6 Holdrege (now 22-5) lost to #3 Malcolm (now 26-1), in a final score that was not close, 56 to 36.

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