Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team looks to bounce back this weekend when Southwest Baptist and Central Missouri come to town.

The Lopers (10-10, 6-8) are coming off a last second overtime loss to No. 7 Fort Hays State, 82-81. UNK is 4-5 at home this year and faces the Bearcats Thursday (5:30 p.m.) and the
Jennies Saturday (1:30 p.m.).

Back in December, Kearney ventured to Bolivar, Mo., and left with an 89-75 win over SBU. The 'Cats, who beat Hays two days priore, are 12-8 (7-7) with nine of those wins coming at home.

A balanced attack is led by 6-2 freshman forward Caylee Richardson (12.1 points & 8.1 rebounds) and 5-6 sophomore guard Morgan Rosenbaum (11.3 ppg).

Rosenbaum came off the bench in the first meeting with UNK, scoring 20 points in 26 minutes thanks to an 8 of 20 (1 of 4 threes) shooting effort. Richardson ended with a double double (14 & 10) in 27 minutes of work. On the other side of the court, senior Laramey Becker (Trenton) went 10 of 10 at the line to score a game-high 29 as the Lopers sunk 29 of 34 freebies.

SBU allows 67 points per game and has plus margins in both turnovers and rebounds. Besides beating Hays, they own a road win at UCO and beat Washburn last weekend in Bolivar.

The Jennies (8-11, 7-7), who are at Hays Thursday, start the week with a 2-5 road record. They are coming off an upset home win over nationally-ranked Emporia State, 69-64.

Two-sport start Shelby Winkelmann leads the way as she averages 19.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. The 5-9 volleyball player shoots 83% at the line and has sunk 20 threes in 16 games played.

The other UCM player averaging double digits is 6-2 senior post Ashley Jones (11.9). She is close to a double double, pulling down nine rebounds a night.

Winkelman went for 27 points in the first meeting with Kearney, a game in which UCM outscored UNK 15-4 in the fourth quarter to win 64-62. The Lopers got 20 points from Becker and sophomore guard McKenzie Brown (G.I. Northwest) that afternoon.

UNK starts the weekend with a solid 6-4 road record. They are also among the MIAA leaders in rebounding margin (+4.1) and average 6.7 threes a night.

Of late, junior point guard Alexa Hogberg (Chandler, Ariz.) has had the hot hand. Among the league leaders in assists for a second straight winter, she went for 16 points in an upset win at Missouri Western State and then her tied her career-high of 21 points in the loss to Hays.

Next week, UNK heads to Missouri Southern State and Pitt State.