Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team let an 18-point lead get away but rebounded to slip past South Dakota Mines, 59-55, Sunday afternoon at the Health & Sports Center.
 
To start this season, the Hardrockers (9-5) beat the Lopers (4-5) by a 68-60 score in Rapid City.
 
UNK came out of the gates strong, grabbing leads of 9-2, 20-10 and 27-10. The 'Rockers, despite shooting only 26.7% (8 of 39) in the first half, climbed back into the game by outscoring the Lopers 9-2 over the final six minutes.
 
Kearney quickly got its big lead back as they scored the first eight points of the second half. This included back-to-back threes by junior guards Sarah Hix (Bloomfield, Colo.) and freshman guard Laramey Lewis (Trenton).
 
However, UNK scored only six points in the next 10 minutes. By that point, Mines grabbed a 44-43 lead thanks to a bucket by reserve post Olivia Antilla (game-high 20 points).  This 25-6 run by the 'Rockers included 10 of the Lopers 25 turnovers.
 
UNK managed to get the lead back and even led 49-45 with 4:22 to play. But, Mines came back a final time, using a three point play by Antilla to move ahead 52-51 at the 2:55 mark.
 
A Hix jumper 20 seconds later gave the Lopers the lead for good but the win wasn't in the bag until senior guard Ivy Jones made a runner with 1:07 to go to make it 57-54 and then went 1 of 2 at the line with two seconds left.
 
Junior wing Shelby Zimmerman (Beatrice) scored 10 of her team-high 15 points in the first half while tying sophomore reserve post Queen Ohamara (Lincoln North Star) for the Loper lead in rebounds at six.  

Jones (Vallejo, Calif.) finished with 10 points and seven assists while HIx went 4 of 5 from the field to tally 12.
 
As a team, UNK shot 46.8% (22 of 47) from the field and won the rebounding battle by one, 38-37. That helped them overcome the turnovers and a 9 of 18 effort at the line.
 
Before fouling out late, Antilla was 7 of 12 from the field and 4 of 5 at the line. She also had nine rebounds and two assists.
 
UNK is at Pittsburg State Thursday night and Northeastern State Saturday afternoon.