One of the biggest grins in Lincoln at about 8:15 p.m. on Saturday belonged to Andy Markowski, after the Lincoln Pius X girls basketball team won the Class A state championship.
In just the second Class A girls championship game between two Lincoln teams, Pius X beat Lincoln East 45-37 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Markowski, who played basketball for Nebraska in the late 1990s, is an assistant coach for Pius X, and also the father of two of the starters for the Bolts, junior center Alexis Markowski and freshman guard Adison Markowski.
An all-Lincoln girls Class A final produced a first-time winner as No. 3 Lincoln Pius X won its first Class A title and fourth overall.
After the final buzzer, Andy Markowski had a big grin, gave a high-five to head coach Ryan Psota and leaned over — he’s 6-foot-8 — to hug several of the players, some of whom are 15 inches shorter than he is.
And a few minutes later he watched from nearby as Alexis Markowski went up the ladder to cut off a piece of the game net.
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“That’s cool,†Andy Markowski said. “I won an NIT championship in college and got to cut down the nets, so you just remember the emotion and all the hard work that goes into it. My other kids were a water boy and water girl for the team. Our family has been built around basketball and it’s been a big part of our lives. Hopefully, it’s not the mountaintop, but with Pius being one of the smallest Class A schools, to be a part of that is special.â€
Markowski went to high school in Ord, but wasn’t on a state championship team.
After college Markwoski was a men’s college assistant coach at South Dakota and Bowling Green for seven years. More recently he’s been involved with youth basketball in Lincoln, helping to run the youth program for the Nebraska Lasers, one of the club basketball programs in Lincoln. He coaches three of the teams there. The team he coached with high school juniors had 10 players in the state tournament, including players for Weeping Water, Lincoln Christian, Norris, Lincoln Southwest, Pius X, East and Hastings St. Cecilia.
This was his second year coaching at Pius X. His full-time job is in medical sales.
Alexis Markowski had a great state tournament, scoring 29, 32 and 19 points in the three games. The 6-foot-3 center is committed to play at South Dakota State.
“I’ve watched her just keep getting better, and certainly she has a challenging job having to play through a lot of traffic,†Markowski said. “To put her on a big stage and have her perform and help lead her team to three victories and a state title was an awesome thing to watch. She’s a kid that’s humble and wants to keep getting better.â€
Markowski had two other children, sixth grader Ava and Jacob, the youngest.
Lincoln East coach Dennis Prichard credits Andy Markowski for doing a lot of work to help make basketball in Lincoln better. So Saturday was a special scene, with two Lincoln teams in the finals. Six of the Pius X varsity players, and six from East play for one of the Nebraska Lasers' teams.
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Lincoln Pius X junior Alexis Markowski tied the three-day scoring record at the girls state basketball tournament.ÌýÌý
“It takes a village, but we do think we have a good model that’s producing not only good basketball players, but good athletes,†Markowski said. “Lincoln soccer is competitive, volleyball is competitive, basketball is competitive. We’re going to continue the multi-sport model. I’m one of many that’s helping to foster just a good basketball culture of fundamentals and competitiveness.
“We go to national level tournaments and our kids are as good as anybody and they’re getting scholarships that they know are good fits for them in the Midwest region, and I’m proud of that as well.â€
Nebraska Lasers has several high school head and assistant coaches working with the program. That included Prichard coaching one of the junior high teams that his daughter plays on.
And the Lasers program takes most of June off so the players can play with their high school teams.
Psota, the Pius X head coach, says it’s a great time for girls basketball in Lincoln and the area. And that includes Lincoln Christian in Class C-1, and Crete and Beatrice in Class B.
“Every night’s a grind because you know you’re going to be scouted unbelievably,†Psota said. “But I think we’ve got good youth programs and I think we’ve got people in those programs that are trying to get multi-sport kids and not trying to develop the one-sport player, and that’s great for kids these days, especially for basketball in a volleyball-heavy state.â€