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Is it better to be well-rested or to have played several times recently entering the postseason?
Tuesday's Class A, District 6 tournament semifinal between Grand Island Senior High and North Platte might provide an answer to that question.
With the demise of the annual Islander-Hastings High game to close out the regular season, GISH received 11 days off between its new season finale against Lincoln North Star on Feb. 8 and the district opener against the Bulldogs Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. at Hastings High.
"We are hoping (the time off) is a positive," Islander coach Kelli Jeffries said. "We had this big break, and North Platte had the opposite. They had four games since we played last.
"If you talk to either coach, you'd want a happy medium. They probably felt they've played too many games (recently), and we'd have liked one more."
The Islanders (11-9) have won seven of 10 games since the first of the year.
"We've had a pretty good January and February, even though we've not had many games in February," Jeffries said. "The second half of the season, we've played our best basketball.
"We've had a tough schedule. We've played top 10 teams like Lincoln Southeast, Lincoln East and Millard North. We've had the toughest schedule of anybody (in the district)."
And that will be a plus in the district tournament. North Platte (14-7) and top-seeded Kearney (19-3) along with the Islanders gives the district three teams above .500.
"Our district is as tough as anybody's in the state (in Class A) with the new format," Jeffries said. "We're the only district in the state with three teams with winning records."
That means an off night will likely end a team's season.
"You'll have to put two solid games together (to win the district)," Jeffries said. "The little things will be important. Offensive rebounds, turnovers, bench support things that you don't talk about too much during the season will be important. Those things add up."
Grand Island and North Platte split their regular season contests. The Bulldogs won at home 59-36 on Dec. 8 while the Islanders took a 42-39 victory on their home court on Jan. 25.
"The first time we played them was not our best performance of the year," Jeffries said. "The second time around North Platte felt they didn't play well. This time will come down to whoever puts a complete game together."
The district championship will be held Friday at 7 p.m.
Class B
Grand Island Northwest looks to snap an 11-game losing streak to keep its season alive when it faces McCook in the Class B, District 5 tournament.
The first-round game tips off today at 7 p.m. at the University of Nebraska-Kearney's Health and Sports Center.
Even though it's been a tough season for the Vikings (2-16), there have been some encouraging signs. Coach Russ Moerer felt this team played two of its better games of the year back-to-back last week against Aurora and Beatrice.
"We put two good games together," he said. "I feel we match up with McCook well. We're healthy. They're healthy."
The Bison (11-13) picked up a 38-36 win at Northwest on Jan. 12.
"They run a lot of different defenses," Moerer said. "We have to recognize what we see and attack. They're an athletic team and they go 10 deep."
The winner advances to face top-seeded Holdrege (19-2) Tuesday at 6 p.m.
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