Broncos finish 3rd at State Tourney in Class D2

Heading into this season the D2 No. 3 Mullen girls basketball team had one goal and that was to compete for a State Championship. In the end, they came up less than a minute from having a shot at that, but there was no doubt that this team grew from last season to this season.

This was well represented at the Class D2 State Girls Basketball Tournament where the Broncos for the second year advanced to the Semifinals of the tournament. Unlike 2019-2020, Mullen was not blown out in their final two games against the eventual State Champions Humphrey St. Francis and Wynot.

They grew from their first experience in this situation and even found a way to come from behind and beat Wynot with a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter. A great way to cap off what arguably was the best season in the program’s history.

Besides just finishing third at the State Tournament the Broncos were district champions for the third straight year, won the MNAC Tournament, and also earned a big win over Louisville in the first-ever Nebraska Girls Basketball Showcase. Yes, it was indeed a very good year for the Mullen girls basketball team.

Leading the way for the Broncos this year was UNK recruit Samantha Moore who averaged 17 points a game and had 4.3 rebounds per game. Second, on the team was Taylor Svoboda averaging 11.2 points a game 3.7 rebounds a game.

This year’s senior class of Moore, Brooke McCully, Kylie Licking, Hanna Marshall, Michelle Brown, and Josey French will go down as one of the strongest senior classes to walk through the school for girls basketball. In four seasons they compiled a record of 82-20.

Besides Moore going to play at UNK, McCully will be heading to Chadron State for basketball.

“I am so happy for them,” Mullen Coach Clint Svoboda said. “Especially

after coming down here and having a couple of hard lessons last year. It was a similar situation to last year and to see them grow in the forty different practices we had and all these games we played was special. I am so proud of them and they can take what they accomplished with them the rest of their lives.”

Heading into next year, Svoboda is confident Mullen will be good, especially with how the season ended. They have some players making headway and return Taylor Svoboda and Shelby Welsh who both had significant starting experience.

“It will be a big confidence builder,” Svoboda said. “We got some pieces coming back that are some good players and we have some young players coming along at a rapid pace. So I think that this can only bolster that and if we go to work in the offseason we are going to have a very good squad.”