Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team has a long road trip this weekend as they are at Southwest Minnesota State on Thursday night and play at Chadron State Saturday evening.
The game vs. SMSU tips at 6:00 p.m. with the contest against the Eagles set for 6:30 p.m. Central. Check the
Loper schedule page for media links.
Both the Mustangs (0-2) and Eagles (0-1) have UNK ties. SMSU head coach Allison Kruger is one of the top players in Loper history, earning All-American honors in 2003 and 2004. Chadron's head coach, Tim Conneally, was a Loper assistant coach for four seasons.
From the NSIC (Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference), Southwest Minnesota lost to MIAA members Fort Hays State, 71-34, and Missouri Western State, 93-61, last weekend at home.
The 'Stangs feature a roster that is well balanced between the four classes but has just one six-footer in sophomore Taylor Holicky. Through two games, she ranks second on team in rebounds (5.0) to 5-10 senior guard Hope Bonlander (6.0).
SMSU is shooting just 34% from the field and 27% from the three point line. Having a minus three rebounding margin, they have committed 54 turnovers to date.
True freshman guard Sariah Cheadle (12.0) and 5-11 sophomore forward Lauren Hedlund (10.5) are the leading scorers.
Last season in Kearney, UNK routed SMSU, 105-66. Current senior guard
Laramey Becker went for 33 points on 6 of 8 three point shooting with fellow guards
Alexa Hogberg (Chandler, Ariz.) and
McKenzie Brown (Grand Island) scoring 15 apiece.
UNK and Chadron haven't met in women's basketball since the two were members of the RMAC (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference). In the Lopers final game in the RMAC, they won in Armstrong Gym, 84-59.
Chadron now plays is home games in the year-old Chicoine Center.
Coming off an 8-18 (8-14) season, the Eagles have a veteran roster that includes seven transfers. Like Southwest, they have just one six footer in sophomore Maka Daysh (6-1), a New Zealand native.
She ranked second on the team last season in points (10.0) while also pulling down a team-best 5.0 rebounds per game. Another import, 5-7 senior guard Emma Block from Denmark, tallied 10.1 points per game as a junior.
Through three games, UNK has a plus 1.3 rebounding and a minus 2.0 turnover margin. Shooting 70% at the line, just over a quarter of the team's field goals have come from the three point line.
Brown (12.3) and sophomore post newcomer
Imani Kyser (11.3) lead in scoring with Kyser having made 14 of 19 shots (74%). This pair joins seven other Lopers averaging 10 plus minutes a game. Last season, UNK had three players averaging over 34 minutes a game; currently, no one is over 29.
After this long road trip, UNK is off until hosting nationally-ranked Wayne State on Saturday, November 28th.
