Box Score Kearney, Neb. – Juniors Michaela Barry and McKenzie Brown combined for 43 points and 12 made three pointers to help Nebraska-Kearney rout Lindenwood, 69-55, Thursday night at the Health & Sports Center.
 
Having won two of its last three games, the Lopers (6-12, 2-8) are now in a three-way tie for 11th place in the MIAA standings. A win Saturday over Lincoln (3-15, 2-9) could push them up to ninth.
 
Leading for all but 35 seconds, UNK relied on its top two scorers on the season to tally 21 points in both the second and fourth quarters. Holding early leads of 11-6 and 29-18, the Lopers led by as many as 23 points before the Lions (7-11, 3-8) scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to narrow the gap a bit.
 
Barry (Norfolk Catholic H.S.) finished with 23 points on 8 of 19 (6 of 10 threes) shooting. She came into the week ranked 12th in the league in scoring at 14.1. 
 
Next, Brown (G.I. Northwest) tied her season-high of 20 points by making 6 of 14 long range shots and going 2 of 2 at the line. She came in averaging 10.6 points per game.
 
The six threes are career-highs for both Barry and Brown. For good measure, Arizona senior Alexa Hogberg sunk one, her 99th as a Loper, to make it 13 on the night for the Lopers. That is tied for second most in school history. 

 

"It's about time. (Michael and McKenzie) are good shooters. They were making shots when Lindenwood was in man. They then went zone and when a shooter is hot, that makes it even better," said Loper head coach Carrie Eighmey. "Their shots just finally fell for them. They both spent a lot of time in the gym taking shots. When you work at your craft, it's going to come around for you."
 
UNK also dominated on the glass, 47-35, as Barry and Brown both grabbed seven rebounds with South Dakota senior Kelsey Fitzgerald and Dannebrog senior Courtney Aitken having nine apiece. Fourteen offensive rebounds led to 13 second chance points.
 
"I'm proud of our team. Proud of our effort in the third and fourth quarters to kind of hold that lead and maintain their composure when Lindenwood was throwing several different defenses at us," said Eighmey.
 
Besides the shooting heroics, Fitzgerald (nine points) got close to a double double, as did Hogberg (10 points & a season-best eight assists).
 
Lindenwood had four players in double digits, including Alex Haley and Lindsay Medlen with 13 apiece.
 
The LU Blue Tigers come to the arena on Saturday. They lost at Fort Hays State tonight, 81-68.