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University of Nebraska - Kearney Athletics

Elisa Backes
Corbey R. Dorsey
64
Missouri Western MWSU 20-8,14-8 MIAA
75
Winner Neb.-Kearney UNKWBB 22-6,17-5 MIAA
Missouri Western MWSU
20-8,14-8 MIAA
64
Final
75
Neb.-Kearney UNKWBB
22-6,17-5 MIAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Missouri Western MWSU 14 19 15 16 64
Neb.-Kearney UNKWBB 12 16 23 24 75

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

UNK Makes it Rain on Senior Night, 75-64

Kearney, Neb. – Nebraska-Kearney sunk 11 three pointers, including a career-high six from forward Elisa Backes, to pull away from Missouri Western State, 75-64, Friday night at the Health & Sports Center.

This was the regular season finale for both teams. UNK (22-6, 17-5) will be the third seed in next weekend's MIAA Tournament in Kansas City. Brackets will be announced Saturday night; the Lopers will play next Friday at around 2:15 p.m.

In a game with NCAA Tournament implications, UNK went 11 of 21 from behind the arc, was plus six on the glass and had just two second half turnovers. MWSU (20-8, 14-8) suffers its third straight setback and fifth loss in seven tries, likely ending any NCAA at-large hopes. Meanwhile, the Lopers pick up another quality win.

"In the first half we were a little out of sync offensively. We were stagnant in the main offense we run and weren't getting great opportunities," said Loper head coach Carrie Eighmey. "But we hung in there and did enough defensively to stay within striking distance."

UNK fell behind 6-0 and 10-3 but managed to overcome some early turnover issues and cold first quarter shooting to trail 33-28 at the break. Getting points from seven different players, the Lopers actually led 24-19 before a late Griffons run.

"A lot of those turnovers (eight) were live ball turnovers … they love to play in transition and were able to play off our mistakes," said Eighmey. "Second half we adjusted and ran some different stuff."

MWSU's momentum carried over to the third quarter as they built a 39-32 advantage. However, that's when Backes (Salina, Kan.) started to find her range, knocking down three triples in a four-minute span to make it 44-41 Lopers. She finished with 24 points, six off her career-high, thanks to 6 of 7 triple shooting.

"We allowed our players to make reads and plays in the second half. We also had a lot of people step up like Meg Burns. She did really well against them the first time we played," said Eighmey.   

A three-point play off an offensive rebound by guard Sarah Schmitt (Swisher, Ia.) gave UNK a 51-48 lead heading into the fourth. The Lopers never trailed but another Backes trey made it 61-57 and then guard Trinity Law (Brandon, SD) got into the act. Her right-wing three made it 66-61 at the 4:03 mark with Backes hitting another bomb almost three minutes later to put MWSU on ice.

Law had one of her best games of the season, making 6 of 7 shots (2 of 3 3's) to tally 18. That's five off her career-high point total and she also drew seven fouls and had two of UNK's 10 offensive caroms. Next, senior guard Haley Simental (Pueblo West, Colo.) had eight points and four assists with wing Klaire Kirsch (Rapid City, SD) at 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.

"We weren't creating a lot in the paint so we decided to space the floor a bit and let our team make some reads and try to create from the perimeter," said Eighmey. "Trinity was really aggressive in the second half and able to take advantage of some of the matchups she had. We were getting downhill but Elisa was there on some ball-screen pop action."

MWSU was paced by Brionna Budgetts (21 points, six rebounds) and Corbyn Cunningham (17 points).
 
 
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