By Andrew Hanson, UNK Student
 
Kearney, Neb. - With one season of high school basketball left, Alexa Hogberg knew she needed to make a change.
 
She left behind the school where she was an all-state point guard in favor of Hamilton High School in the nearby Phoenix suburb of Chandler in search of greater opportunities.
 
"My senior year, I transferred high schools because I went from a program that didn't really care much about their girls basketball," Hogberg said. "We weren't really in many national tournaments or playing big teams.
 
"The high school that I transferred to was one of the best in Arizona. We played in a big national Nike tournament. I wanted experience with a team trying to win a state championship."
 
Hogberg got the experience she was looking for. She led Hamilton to a school-record 27 wins and helped them reach the state semifinals.
 
The move also helped her get noticed by former University of Nebraska at Kearney head coach Kevin Chaney, which brought her to the Midwest.
 
"I'm from a big city, so this school just felt really comfortable," said Hogberg. "I felt like I could do well here and had that feeling that this could definitely be my home."
 
Over Hogberg's first two seasons at UNK, she started to find her own. As a sophomore last year, she led the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) in assists, dishing out 4.9 assists per game. The mark also ranked fourth in school history.
 
With Carrie Hofstetter, a former point guard herself, coaching the Lopers now, Hogberg's role in the offense has changed, but she's still looking to pass.
 
"This year, the goal is 10 and five – 10 points a game and five assists," Hogberg explained. "They want me to score as well as pass, but I've always been a pass first kind of player.
 
"To me, I'd rather have 10 assists than 10 points."
 
She's been doing her part to reach the 10 and five mark, as the junior is averaging 9.1 points and 4.3 assists per game, which ranks fourth in the conference. Recently, her scoring average has risen as she tied her career-high (21) vs. nationally-ranked Ft. Hays State and had 16 in an upset of then-unbeaten Missouri Western State.
 
Hofstetter is also more involved with the play calling, which helps Hogberg run the offense more smoothly.

"I felt more of the pressure of calling out the plays last year," Hogberg added. "This year, it feels like there's more of a connection coach-player wise. It's both of us running it together and seeing what's open and what's not open."
 
Being a point guard, Hogberg is relishing the chance to learn from Hofstetter.
 
"It's just funny that we joke around that we're very similar," Hogberg said. "It's a great opportunity for me to learn from her, and I've been enjoying it and understanding basketball better. She definitely makes me more competitive."
 
Hogberg also noted that the two have played one-on-one against each other multiple times. "I won," she smiled.
 
With three weeks to go in the season, the Lopers (12-10, 8-8) are looking to secure their first winning record since 2009.
 
They're also playing for the right to host a first round game in the MIAA Tournament, a result of a fifth through eighth place regular season finish. UNK is tied for seventh in the league and only a half game out of fifth.
 
After playing back-to-back top-10 nationally ranked teams last month, which the Lopers split – winning at Missouri Western and dropping an overtime thriller to Hays at home, Hogberg knows that UNK can go toe-toe with anyone in the league.
 
"The ones we've lost have been heartbreakers, but they've also benefited us because we're right there," she said. "It's pushing us even harder to compete in practice.
 
 "Those one-point losses have really made us even more hungry to win, so that the next time we play a team like that, we don't just win by maybe one or two, but we can win by 20."