Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Senior guard
Laramey Becker and freshman post
Kennedy Sander scored 18 points apiece as Nebraska-Kearney raced past No. 23 Wayne State, 76-59, Saturday afternoon at the Health & Sports Center.
UNK (4-2) beats Wayne for the first time since early in the 2008-09 season and picks up its first win over a nationally-ranked squad since the 2007-08 Lopers beat Fort Lewis in the NCAA Tournament.
Wayne (4-2) got out to an 11-5 lead but it was all UNK after that. The Lopers, leading for the last 30 minutes and by as many 23 points, took 23 more shots, had nine more offensive rebounds and scored 22 points off 19 turnovers.
Coming in averaging almost eight made threes per game, the 'Cats didn't hit a long range shot until the fourth quarter. They finished 2 of 5 from behind the arc with UNK 9 of 27.
"Toughness and discipline were the keys. We came out physically strong and defensively we were disciplined in the game plan. We took things away we knew they wanted to do," said UNK head coach
Carrie Hofstetter, whose team has won four straight.
Both teams had to work around foul trouble with Wayne seeing its leading scorer, sophomore post Paige Ballinger (21.0 ppg), limited to just 12 minutes. She finished with eight points on 3 of 6 shooting. On the other side, Loper reserves
Courtney Aitken (Dannebrog) and
Bri Starks (Hutchinson, Kans.) fouled out.
Kearney closed the first quarter on an 11-4 run to grab the lead for good. The spurt featured one of
McKenzie Brown's five threes and three consecutive points from Sander (Lincoln Pius X).
UNK went into the intermission up 38-29 as Becker (Trenton) hit a buzzer beating three. She reached her point total by making 7 of 12 shots (4 of 8 threes).
"The team was just phenomenal today. We had so many girls scoring in so many different ways, "said Becker. "We had both the inside and outside game working and Wayne didn't know what to defend."
The Lopers started the second half on a 13-4 run to make it 51-33 with 5:55 left in the third quarter. Becker hit two threes and Brown added another during this game clinching stretch. Wayne didn't get closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
Continuing her solid start, Sander was 7 of 10 from the field and 4 of 4 at the line in 23 minutes off the bench. She also had two assists, one steals and seven rebounds (four offensive).
UNK outrebounded Wayne 41-36, including a 15-6 mark on the offensive glass. The Lopers had 13 second chance points with seven different players grabbing at least one offensive carom.
"This was a good measuring stick for us. Wayne has been atop of their conference and had a lot of success lately," said Hofstetter. "Our kids can now see they can beat some really good teams. We'll enjoy this one and starting preparing for Emporia."
Brown (15) was the other Loper to score in double digits. Before leaving in the fourth quarter, Starks provided eight rebounds, six points and four assists with Aitken at five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Finally, South Dakota junior forward Kesley Fitzgerald had three assists, three steals, eight points and eight rebounds.
Before fouling out, Maggie Schulte scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Wayne.
UNK hosts No. 1 ranked Emporia State next Thursday night.
