Kearney, Neb. – The Metro State women's basketball team defeated Nebraska-Kearney, 63-54, Saturday night at the Auraria Event Center.

Metro State improves to 14-11 (9-8 RMAC) while UNK falls to 9-15 (8-9 RMAC). With a six game winning streak against the Roadrunners ending, the Lopers fall into a tie for fourth place in the East Division with Chadron State.

To make the RMAC Tournament, UNK will likely need to win its final two regular season games and see the Eagles go 1-1 or 0-2. Chadron currently holds the tiebreaker with the Lopers.

Moment of the Game
UNK led 12-2 with 14:53 in the first half, which turned out to be the Lopers biggest lead of the game.

Sophomores Lea Ann Jameson and Debi Johnson scored half of their points in first twenty minutes. Behind strong rebounding and points off turnovers, Metro State clawed its way back and led at the half 27-24.

The Roadrunners then led in the 2nd half by 12 points, 41-29, with 13:54 left. UNK would cut Metro State's lead to one point on two different occasions but could not grab the lead back.

Kearney's last come back effort stalled when they trailed by five with about three minutes to go. Two missed shots, and a turnovers, eventually allowed Metro to score again and push its lead back to seven.

On the night, the 'Runners had a plus 6 offensive rebounds advantage over the Lopers (9-3). Those nine offensive rebounds led to 9 second chance points and 14 more field goal attempts.

Metro State also outscored UNK 36-20 in the paint and saw its bench out score the Lopers by eight, 17-9. Finally, Kearney attempted just 11 free throws, tied for third fewest this season.

Lopers of the Game
Jameson (So., F, Minden) - scored 12 points on 4 of 7 3-point FG shooting, 4 rebounds
Johnson (So., G, Elsie) - scored 11 points on 2 of 2 FT shooting, 6 assists
Megan Becker (Jr., F, Beaver City) - scored 13 points on 5 of 11 FG shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, 3 assists

Opponent Notes
Kristin Valencia scored 15 points on 7 of 14 FG shooting, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
Candice Kohn scored 13 points on 6 of 11 FG shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Leandra Sands scored 11 points on 4 of 5 FG shooting, 3 rebounds, 2 assists

Up Next
 UNK hosts Colorado School Mines on Friday night and Colorado Christian on Saturday