Recipe for a Dynasty; Wolves Earn Four-Peat on the Hardwood

ELKHORN — On Saturday, the Elkhorn North girls basketball team wrapped up its fourth Class B State Championship with a 49-47 victory over Skutt Catholic.

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“It was hard,” senior McKenna Murphy commented. “Skutt came out early and got us down by nine (points) in the third quarter. We came out with some pretty sweet plays, including Kara Kudlacz’s and-one, and other big momentum building plays. We knocked down our free throws and came out on top.” 

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Elkhorn North’s meteoric rise on the hardwood has been one of the most impressive feats in Nebraska high school sports history. The Wolves have won a state title every year since their doors opened as a high school in 2020.

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“We worked so hard for this moment,” senior Sydney Stodden noted. “We push each other, in a good way, and we hold each other accountable. We wanted to do it for each other. That’s all and that’s the bottom line.”

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The Wolves have left many adversaries wondering how they succeed so much and so quickly, well the recipe to their dynasty looks kind of like this.

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1 Culture/Mindset: The first and most important ingredient is the mindset and culture that was set from day one by head coach Ann Prince and the staff.

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“Day one we always said it was going to be on the defensive end,” senior Britt Prince recalled. “That’s where we have gotten it done every year, especially at state. Everyone buys into the culture every day. After our loss to Waverly earlier this year, we really locked in and refocused. We knew what we had to do individually and as a team. We set goals and went even harder at practice. We locked in on the end goal.”

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2-3 Sport Athletes: Next you will need some talented and stellar all-around athletes. Elkhorn North’s roster has always been chalk full of multi-sport athletes for the past four seasons.

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“It was really important to us,” senior Halle Pribnow stated. “Coach (Ann) Prince has taught me so many great things that I can use in my other sports. It taught me to be a great athlete and a great person.”

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4 State Titles: Of course you cannot be a dynasty without some hardware. Elkhorn North became the 21st school to win four or more state crowns and are tied for the fourth longest state championship streak with four (Sandy Creek, 1996-2001, and South Sioux City, 2000-05, with six straight and Crofton, 2012-16, with five straight).

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“It’s pretty darn great,” Stodden spoke.

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5 Seniors: It takes a special group of leaders to guide a team to the unprecedented success Elkhorn North has experienced. The five seniors have set the foundation and an extremely high-standard for future Wolves to replicate and build off of, going 97-5 during their four-year run.

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“Since day one, we have been really close,” senior Reese Booth said. “When McKenna (Murphy) came in last year, she fit right into our team and got along with everyone. That has been the foundation for us. We built a culture and teamwork over these past four years. We are great friends on and off the court and enjoy being with each other.”

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5 Losses: Maybe one of the biggest keys to success is how a team deals with setbacks. During Elkhorn North’s dynasty run, the Wolves have never gone unbeaten. In fact during their first season, the blue and black failed to win the Eastern Midlands Conference Tournament title, lost in the opening round of the subdistrict tourney and had to come from behind and come up with two defensive stops to win the district title over Hastings to advance and win their first state tournament.

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“After we lose, we take those next few practices to work hard and refocus,” Pribnow recalled. “We knew what we needed to work on and how we could work better as a team. We try to do those things to the best of our ability and transfer that to future games, district and state.”

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7 State Titles/Runner-Up Trophies: To play in front of the entire state on the biggest stage can bring out nerves for some players. However, the Wolves have been in the spotlight numerous times. Along with the four state crowns the basketball team won, members of Elkhorn North girls hoops squad have also won a Class B State Track and Field team title, earned runner-up honors in track and field and a state runner-up trophy in volleyball, along with numerous individual state medals and state appearances in cross country, track and softball.

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“From the past, we came in confident and we knew what the environment was like,” Booth commented. “We thrived off the loud people and everything.” 

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9 Collegiate Players: Some elite student-athletes are always a plus to help build a program. Four former Elkhorn North cagers (Reilly Palmer, Michaela Palmer, Grace Heaney and Grace Thompson) already play at the collegiate level. Booth, Stodden, Britt Prince and McKenna Murphy will make their collegiate debuts next year and junior Shay Heaney has committed to play volleyball in college. It also helps that six of the nine current and former Wolves will play at the Division-I level.

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“There is a lot of talent,” Murphy noted. “A lot of it is because of our coaches. They allow our multi-sport athletes to make some sacrifices and maybe miss a practice here or there to go compete in their No. 1 sport. For example, Reese (Booth), Kaitlyn (Huff) and Shay’s (Heaney) primary sport is volleyball, but we really needed them in basketball. Our coaches are very open about that and allow them to compete in both. It only helps us because we need that talent on the floor. It is awesome.”

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A few extra ingredients were added on Saturday to make the recipe extra special.

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7-Point Deficit: Trailing by seven with under seven minutes remaining in the Class B State Championship game, Elkhorn North rallied with a 14-5 run to win its fourth consecutive state crown.

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“We believed the whole way,” Britt Prince spoke. “We were down in the fourth quarter, and we just had people make big plays. We got the momentum after Kara Kudlacz’s and-one. That was a huge play for us. We had the energy, we got the stops we needed to get and we stuck together as a team.”

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2 Free Throws: Booth sealed the state title with a pair of game-winning free throws with nine seconds remaining to secure the 49-47 triumph.

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“I was confident,” Booth recalled. “I have made free throws every day in practice. I visualized it, took a deep breath, told myself, ‘I got this,’ and drained the first one. After Skutt’s timeout, I actually kind of forgot about having to shoot the second one and didn’t think about it. I went back out, repeated my routine and it went in again.”

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1 Dream/Goal: Of course none of this is possible without a dream and goal that was set long before the nets were ever hung at Elkhorn North High School.

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“I never thought that this would be a possibility,” concluded Britt Prince. “I grew up watching the state tournament and just wanted to make it to state as a little kid. Having this happen is extra special.”

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