Week 1 Preview: Season Tip-Off in K.C.

11/4/2022 3:55:00 PM

Kearney, Neb. – The 38th-ranked Nebraska Kearney women's basketball team starts the 2022-23 season in earnest this weekend at the inaugural Division II Conference Commissioners' Association (D2CCA) Tip-Off Classic in Municipal Auditorium.

The Lopers are one of eight teams in the event and will face Southern Nazarene (Okla.) and 6th-ranked West Texas A&M on Saturday and Sunday. Both games tip at 11:30 a.m. and can be viewed on The MIAA Network with live stats available as well. The complete list of teams and tourney schedule can be found HERE.

UNK, coming off a 24-8 season and a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, has never faced the SNU Crimson Storm from Bethany, Okla., and has met the WT Lady Buffs (Canyon, Texas) just twice before (1992 and 1993). Iowa Exhibition

Southern Naz posted a 20-10 mark last season and went 15-8 in Great American Conf. (GAC) play. They beat MIAA-member Central Oklahoma, 69-53, at home last November and fell to NCAA tourney qualifier Southwestern Oklahoma State twice.

Losing four of its top six scorers, SNU was picked second in the preseason GAC poll (12 teams). They are led by 5-8 senior guard Cassandra Awatt (13.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game) and 5-9 Australian guard Emily Monaghan (8.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists pg). Monaghan is one of six international players on the roster which includes 6-2 junior newcomer Hannah Giddey.

WT amassed a 26-11 mark in 2021-22, rebounding from a 2-5 start to reach the Elite Eight. They went 13-3 in the Lone Star Conf. (LSC), beat defending national champ Lubbock Christian three times and are preseason LSC favorites (16 teams) thanks to returning most of its roster. They tangle with 3rd-ranked Fort Hays State in Saturday's second game.

Senior guard Zamorye Roberts (13.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists & 1.9 steals pg) and Minnesota State-Moorhead transfer Karley Motschenbacher (10.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists & 1.5 steals pg) are the returning double digit scorers. WT added three transfer posts in Nyalam Thabach (6-4), Kamirah Decker (6-2) and Braylyn Dollar (6-0). Dollar began her career in Canyon before spending last year at D1 Sam Houston State.

In Iowa City last Friday against the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes, UNK used 16 different players veterans Elisa Backes (Salina, Kan.), Meg Burns (Ankeny, Ia.) and Shiloh McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) having six apiece. McCool and Klaire Kirsch (Rapid City, SD) combined for seven offensive rebounds with point guard Sarah Schmitt (Swisher, Ia.) having two assists and newcomer Bailey Kissinger (Hastings) having two steals.

UNK returns home next weekend to face Minnesota-Crookston and Southwest Minnesota State, the same teams it opened the 2021-22 season with.

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