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University of Nebraska - Kearney Athletics

Kelsey Sanger
Corbey R. Dorsey
55
Winner Missouri Western MWSU 14-15
47
Nebraska-Kearney UNK 15-14
Winner
Missouri Western MWSU
14-15
55
Final
47
Nebraska-Kearney UNK
15-14
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Missouri Western MWSU 16 14 9 16 55
Nebraska-Kearney UNK 6 10 14 17 47

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Griffons Get Defensive to Advance, 55-47

Kearney, Neb. – The Missouri Western State Griffons tallied 30 points off 25 turnovers to hold off Nebraska-Kearney, 55-47, in an MIAA Tournament first round game Wednesday night in Kansas City. 

The ninth-seeded Griffons (14-15) advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday night where they'll face top-seed and third-ranked Fort Hays State (27-1). Eighth-seeded UNK (15-14), falling to 1-6 all-time in the MIAA Tourney, has now had its season ended by MWSU in three of the last four seasons including the last two. 

"Today was a tough one for us. I thought defensively we played well enough to win but we turned the ball over 25 times. That led to a lot of transition points for them and probably was the difference in the game," said Loper head coach Carrie Eighmey. "For the young team that we have, with all the freshmen and sophomores playing key roles, we're extremely proud of the progress we made throughout the year. We had stretches during the year where we played really, really well."

Missouri Western led for the final 34 minutes and was ahead 16-6 after the first quarter. UNK, ending with 15 offensive rebounds, made just two of its first 14 shots and had only 16 points by the break. The Lopers warmed up as the night went along, however, shooting over 40% in each of the final three quarters. 34918

"They are very aggressive defensively, try and force turnovers and hedge ball screens. They try and create offense from their defense," said Eighmey. "The first time we played them, we turned it over a bit (20) but I thought we did a better job of moving them around and get them to over rotate. They are a senior-led team that made some really good adjustments and were ready for us this time. They did a lot more dictating in this game than we did."

The deficit got as big as 17 points early in the second before UNK made the first of two moves. A 12-4 run featured threes from sophomore guard Adreon Bell (Independence, Mo.) and freshman guard Klaire Kirsch (Rapid City, S.D.) and a nifty fast break layup by sophomore guard Kelsey Sanger (Crofton). This was Sanger's first game action since suffering an injury in a February 2nd loss to Hays.

Now down 39-30, UNK remained within striking distance until the final two minutes. Two free throws from freshman forward Shiloh McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) made it a 49-44 game with 1:21 remaining. That was the closet the Lopers had been since early in the first quarter.

UNK had a chance to get even closer as MWSU missed two free throws 25 seconds later. However, senior Brittany Atkins grazed the ball on an attempted layup, grabbed the rebounded and made the subsequent free throws. UNK did get a three from freshman reserve wing Elisa Backes (Salina, Kan.) soon after but the hole never got smaller than four points.

"They tried to speed us up when we were on offense. They were hedging on ball screens and are athletic enough to get deflections and steals off those," said Carlson.

34915Shooting just 31% (19 of 61) from the field and getting out rebounded 46-29, MWSU had four starters reach double digits. That included senior Melina Richardson with a team-high 15. The 5-4 guard has been a thorn in UNK's side the past couple of seasons and was again tonight thanks to six made field goals, six steals, five rebounds and three dimes in 40 minutes of work.

Next, Atkins (12 points & eight rebounds) got close to a double double with senior All-MIAA guard Katrina Roenfeldt at 11 points, five boards and four steals.

McCool (12) once again led the Lopers in scoring with Carlson and freshman forward Maegan Holt (Council Bluffs, Ia.) at 10 apiece. On the season, each tallied over 293 points, the best effort by a freshman trio in school history.

"In the second half we tried not to set as many ball screens. We worked the ball around more, got some back cuts and were rebounding well," said McCool.

Both Carlson and McCool grabbed nine rebounds with Holt and Kirsch at seven apiece. The plus 17 rebounding margin was UNK's highest total of the season. On the other side, the 25 turnovers tie for the second most this winter; UNK had 20 in a 62-53 win over MWSU back in January. Finally, senior Jaymie Bernbeck (Garden City, Kan.) had five rebounds and two points in her final appearance in the Blue & Gold. 34917

"I think we have a good base but all the credit goes to our senior leader. We wound not be here without her. We would just be sheep wandering around … she kind of herded us this season," said Carlson. "Everything is a testament to Jaymie's leadership."

An unprecedented 72% of UNK's points was scored by seven true freshmen this season.

Eighmey added, "You're lucky to have one or two freshmen play 500 minutes in a season. We had five or six that have played over several hundred minutes … some that have gone over 700 and 800. That's unheard of and they've been in the fire. They've been asked to be difference makers so all this experience is going to be valuable moving forward."


 

 
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