Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The Chadron State women's basketball team made a season-high nine threes and survived a last second shot to edge Nebraska-Kearney, 64-60, Saturday afternoon at the Health & Sports Center.

The Eagles (2-11, 2-7 RMAC) earn their first win in Kearney since the 1987-88 season.. Mean while, UNK (2-12, 2-7 RMAC) has dropped three straight.

Ahead 28-25 at the break, the Lopers fell behind by as many as eight points in the second half and were down 63-57 with 14 seconds left.  Senior guard Debi Johnson (Elsie) made her only bucket of the game, a three pointer, with 11 seconds to go and then UNK got possession after forcing a jump ball.

After a timeout, the Lopers found a wide open Vanessa Leeper Jones (Colo. Springs, Colo.), whose potential game tying three bounced around the rim before falling into the hands of Chadron's Sadie Waugh. She hit one of two free throws to finish the day's scoring.

Neither team was stellar at the line as Chadron went 15 of 27 (55.6%) and the Lopers shot a season-low 47.4% (9 of 19). UNK came into the weekend as the second best free throw shooting team in the RMAC at 73%.

The Eagles earned the win thanks to making 9 of 15 shots from behind the arc. On two point field goals, they were 11 of 39 (28.2%). 

Junior forward Lexi Smidt did the most damage from down town as she made 6 of 8 triples to tally a game-high 18 points. In 24 minutes, she also had seven rebounds.

Also for Chadron, Kearney Catholic grad Kaitlin Petri had 16 points, six assists and four rebounds and Waugh (13 points & 11 rebounds) finished with a double double.

Each team held a five point lead in the first half and Kearney still held a lead until the 13 minute mark of the second half. An 8-0 Eagle run, featuring threes by Petri and Smidt, made it 51-43 with 8:55 to go and the Lopers never led again.

UNK actually made four more shots, 24 to 20, than Chadron but was just 3 of 13 from behind the arc. The Eagles also scored 17 points off of 14 Kearney turnovers.

Individually, Leeper Jones came off the bench to have team-highs in points (16) and rebounds (eight) as she went 8 of 13 from the field.

Sophomore post Shelby Zimmerman (Beatrice) had 10 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes with freshman post Melissa Norman (Elk Grove, Calif.) having a season-best 11 points, and seven boards, before fouling out late in the game.

UNK hosts Western New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands next weekend.