Box Score Kearney, Neb. - The Missouri Southern State women's basketball team shot 55 percent from the field and used a big second half run to beat Nebraska-Kearney, 76-66, Tuesday night at the Health & Sports Center.

This was the Lopers season opener while the Lions improve to 1-1. Missouri Southern is a member of the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association), the league UNK will join next season.

These schools are also old members of the CSIC (Central States Intercollegiate Conference) and Southern now leads the all-time series, 15-12.

This was a tight game over the first 25 minutes as there were nine ties and neither team held more than a four point lead.

UNK closed within 43-42 at the 16:03 mark after junior guard Ivy Jones (Vallejo, Calif.) threw a nifty behind the back pass to senior Vanessa Jones (Colo. Springs, Colo.) for a layup.

However, that actually would be the start of Southern's game clinching run. Coming out of a Kearney timeout, MSSU went on a 17-3 run over the next seven minutes to move ahead by 15 points.

The spurt saw UNK have four turnovers and make only one of seven shots. The Lions made three of its nine three pointers during this time with post Erin Rice tallying eight of her team-high 18 points.

UNK, which shot around 30 percent most of the night, warmed up down the stretch and made it a nine point game, 70-61, with 1:48 to play. The Lopers had a chance to make it a six point contest but missed a shot and then Southern converted at the other end to lead by double figures again.

Southern finished 30 of 55 from the floor (54.5%), including a 9 of 24 effort from beyond the arc. Handing out 24 assists, they also had just seven turnovers in the second half after committing 14 in the first 20 minutes.

Rice had a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with her point total. Three others reached double figures, including guard Kelby Fritz (12), who supplied eight assists as well.

UNK won the battle on the glass, 33-31, and had five fewer turnovers. However, the Lopers went 24 of 59 from the field (40.7%) and sunk just 13 of 20 free throws (65.0%).

Individually, senior guard Debi Johnson (Elsie) had a team-high 18 points thanks to 8 of 12 free throw shooting with Vanessa Jones scoring 11 and grabbing a team-best five boards. Finally, senior guard Tessa Kreutzer (Holdrege) had 10 points and two assists in 24 minutes. 

UNK heads to Arizona this weekend and will face 14th-ranked Grand Canyon Friday and Dixie State (Utah) Saturday.