March 2024 • Nebraskaland 39
Barneston in the tournament fi nal 15-12, but Barneston got
its revenge later that season. In March, Blue Springs starting
guard Lucile Davis broke her wrist in practice. She missed the
season fi nale, in which Barneston defeated Blue Springs 8-7
and advanced to the state tournament. Blue Springs ended
the season with a record of 17-2.
Less than a month after the Otoe County tournament,
the Nebraska High School Athletic Association voted to
abolish the girls state basketball tournament after 1924 and
to bar girls' teams from entering any state, district or county
basketball tournaments in the future. Association members
voiced "protests against girls' competitive athletics in
general."
The move was part of a long national backlash against
women's sports. The University of Nebraska had already
disbanded its women's basketball team — coached by the
formidable Louise Pound — after the 1908 season. In 1924,
the university hired Mabel Lee to head its women's physical
education department. Lee promoted intramural sports and
recreation, but actively opposed all intercollegiate play.
The 1924 Blue Springs High School girls' basketball team with their coach, Miss Shotwell (second from right).
History Nebraska has not been able to match names to faces, but the players are guards Mabel Bolender, Iva Peck and
Lucile Davis, and forwards Helen Tays, Gladys Jenkins and Fern Lynxweiler. HISTORY NEBRASKA, RG3372-4-27
