Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The Central Oklahoma Bronchos women's basketball team used a strong second half to beat Nebraska Kearney, 79-58, Saturday afternoon in Edmond.
 
This was the regular season finale for both teams. UCO (16-12, 9-10) and UNK (12-16, 6-13) will both make the MIAA Tournament with the Loper possibly revisiting the Bronchos Tuesday night in a 1st round game. The MIAA Tournament pairings will be released late Saturday night.
 
UNK shot 43% (12 of 28) in the 1st half to trail by just a 31-27 score. In a half with five ties, UCO closed on an 11-6 run to lead by four at the break.
 
The 'Chos then warmed up in the second half, connecting on 55% (16 of 29) of its shots, including a 6 of 11 effort from behind the arc. UCO closed the game on a 32-20 run as Kearney made only 33% (9 of 27) of its second half shots.
 
"I think we got beat in every aspect of the game," said UNK head coach Kevin Chaney. "Unfortunately, they out hustled us, they more aggressive to the rim, they got to the free throw line and they got back on defense. We got to fix this before Tuesday."
 
A balanced UCO attack was led by starters Julia Mason and Chelsea Robinson, who each scored 17. The pair combined to go 12 of 19 from the field while also providing six steals and seven rebounds.
 
 The 'Chos also got 27 points off its bench, including nine from McKenzie Solberg (3 of 6 threes).
 
Having a plus two rebounding margin, UNK got 14 points from freshman guard McKenzie Brown (G.I. Northwest) and 12 from sophomore point guard Alexa Hogberg (Chandler, Ariz.). Scoring 10 in the first half, Hogberg also had three assists, three steals and three boards