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It hasn't been easy, but Bennington has tried to maintain its focus on basketball this season.

The Badgers, who crack the Class B ratings at No. 10 this week, have battled tragedy and injury. Through it all, coach Tom Schumacher said his team has continued to play hard.

"I think what our team has been through has made all of our players grow up a little faster," Schumacher said. "Since Day 1 this season, we've put basketball in perspective compared to life."

The Bennington community was rocked Nov. 22 when a car accident involving three students — Kylie Remmereid, Cassidy Collier and Samantha Steffes — took the life of Remmereid and seriously injured the other two. Collier, who was going to play basketball, remains hospitalized at a rehabilitation center in Lincoln.

"That was something that shook our whole community," Schumacher said. "It happened shortly before the season started and I give our girls credit for keeping it together as well as they have."

The Badgers also lost two other players to injury when University of Nebraska at Omaha softball recruit Lizzie Noble underwent shoulder surgery and leading scorer Karlee Gansebom suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago against Raymond Central.

"That's three of our top players going down," Schumacher said. "But other players have stepped up to contribute, because they know we want to keep things going in the right direction."

Junior Sami Hansen had 20 points and 20 rebounds in a recent win. Senior Sydney Hames also is having a solid season for the Badgers, averaging almost 10 points and nine rebounds.

Bennington, which went 19-5 last year but narrowly missed the state tournament, started the season 3-4. The Badgers have bounced back to win nine of 12 and have the toughest portion of their schedule behind them.

Schumacher's squad has four games left in the regular season before districts. Bennington will compete in the B-3 district that also consists of seventh-ranked South Sioux City and four unranked teams — Elkhorn, Elkhorn South, Blair and Omaha Duchesne.

The Badgers are hopeful a strong finish will secure their fifth state tournament berth. Bennington's most recent state appearance came in 2009, when it finished as the Class C-1 runner-up to Wahoo Neumann.

Schumacher said he is thankful to his team for helping him make it through one of his toughest years in coaching.

"Our kids have a real good attitude," he said. "The team is keeping it positive and playing hard, and that's all I can ask."

Ratings update: There are a couple of minor changes in the Top 10 after Papillion-La Vista South's 10-point win against Bellevue East on Friday night. Undefeated Seward climbs ahead of the Chieftains to No. 3 and the Titans slip in at No. 10.

Omaha Central stays No. 1 in Class A, followed closely by Lincoln Southeast. The Eagles' toughest remaining game is Feb. 17 against visiting Bellevue East, while the Knights' most difficult test appears to be Feb. 14 at Lincoln Northeast.

Class B No. 1 Seward, seeking its fourth straight state title, has stretched its winning streak to 92 games. The Bluejays recently moved ahead of Chambers (87 games) into third place on the Nebraska all-time consecutive wins list, trailing only West Point Central Catholic (111) and Sandy Creek (95).

All six classes are ranked together this week due to the postponement of most Saturday games. Many of those games have been rescheduled for Monday night.

Subdistrict seeding: The Nebraska School Activities Association will release the subdistrict seeding in Class C and Class D on Thursday. Those subdistricts will begin Feb. 13.

Top games this week:

Class A — Monday: Lincoln Northeast at Millard North, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday: Lincoln Southwest at Papillion-La Vista South, 5:45. Friday: Bellevue East at Millard North, 5:30; Fremont at Lincoln Northeast, 5:45. Saturday: Papillion-La Vista at Omaha Central, 3; Bellevue West at Millard North, 5:30.

Class B — Monday: South Sioux City at Sioux City Heelan. Tuesday: Waverly at Omaha Skutt. Friday: Beatrice at Grand Island Northwest.

Class C-1 — Tuesday: Sandy Creek at Fillmore Central; Norfolk Catholic at West Point GACC; Centura at Kearney Catholic. Thursday: Sandy Creek at Kenesaw; Crofton at Norfolk Catholic; Wahoo at Wahoo Neumann. Saturday: Chadron at Valentine.

Class C-2 — Monday: Blue Hill vs. Shelton (at Kenesaw). Thursday: Norfolk Lutheran at Twin River; North Platte St. Pat's at Hershey. Friday: Scribner-Snyder at Pender.

Class D-1 — Monday: Friend at Cross County. Tuesday: Cross County at East Butler. Thursday: West Point GACC at Pierce; O'Neill SM at West Holt.

Class D-2 — Tuesday: Lindsay Holy Family at Elkhorn Valley; Howells at Bancroft-Rosalie; Freeman at Sterling; Amherst at Ansley; Loomis at Eustis-Farnam.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com

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