FIRTH, NE - Crete Cardinals girls basketball team started strong and held off their rivals from Beatrice to earn a 44-37 subdistrict tournament win last night.

The victory advances Crete to the subdistrict final against top seed Norris tonight at 6:00. Even with the loss, Beatrice is guaranteed a spot in a District Final game by finishing in the top eight for wild card points. The Lady Orange will unofficially be the seven seed out of 16 teams.

Leah Jurgens scored six first-quarter points to held the Cardinals to a 14-1 lead after the first eight minutes. Beatrice scored the first eight points of the second quarter to make it a five point game but never got closer than that.

Senior Lexi Mach made nine free throws to finish with 11 points and freshman Marin Rasgorshek added 10 for Crete.

The Cards opponent will be Norris, who stomped on four-seed Nebraska City 57-12 yesterday. 6'3" junior Ella Waters led Titans with 12 points.

Again, tipoff for the subdistrict final is at 6:00 and you can hear it on Ol' Red 99-5.