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University of Nebraska - Kearney Athletics

Sam Moore
Erika Pritchard, UNK Communications
71
Emporia St. ESU 9-16, 4-12 MIAA
73
Winner Neb.-Kearney UNKWBB 19-5, 12-3 MIAA
Emporia St. ESU
9-16, 4-12 MIAA
71
Final
73
Neb.-Kearney UNKWBB
19-5, 12-3 MIAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Emporia St. ESU 18 17 19 17 71
Neb.-Kearney UNKWBB 21 15 23 14 73

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2/20/2025 | 5:30 p.m.

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Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Moore's Late Bucket, Wilson's First Double Double Equals 73-71 Win

Kearney, Neb. – Senior Samantha Moore hit a driving layup with 19 seconds left and Nebraska Kearney forced two late shot clock violations to edge Emporia State, 73-71, Saturday evening at the Health & Sports Center.

UNK (19-5, 12-3) sweeps the season series from the Hornets (9-16, 4-12) and improves to 10-0 at home. The Lopers are also in sole possession of third place in the league standings.

In game with 14 lead changes, graduate post Kia Wilson (St. George, Kan.) tied things up for the 10th and final time with her eighth bucket of the game. That made it 71 all with 2:44 to play. She then blocked a layup at the other end of the court with E-State then committing back-to-back shot clock violations. They came with 1:24 and 38 seconds remaining and sandwiched around two Loper misses.

"I didn't think our defense was great for most of the game. We guarded hard but when the ball would get driven, we were taking peaks and then their shooters were moving on the perimeter and we were losing them," said UNK head coach Drew Johnson. "When it mattered most, we found a way to buckle down, dig in and get a couple of stops."

The defensive stops set up Moore (Mullen) for the game winner. She started in the high post and converted a layup high off the glass for her lone bucket of the game. The Hornets had primarily used zone throughout the day and that limited UNK to an 8 of 33 effort (24%) from deep. The Blue & Gold, thanks to 16 offensive boards, did manage 17 more shot attempts than Emporia.

"We haven't seen a lot of zone and, honestly, I'll go back to the film but someone will have to convince me those weren't the right shots," said Johnson. "We got open ones, thought we got players moving, we got the ball into their hands in space. But some nights it doesn't go in as much as you would like it to."

Emporia called a timeout after Moore's heroics and tried to get the ball to guard junior Gracie Gilpin (game-high 23 points; 6 of 9 threes). However, UNK defended her well with senior Katie Horyna having to take a three from the left wing with 6.6 seconds left. It banged not once but twice off the iron and into the hands of freshman Janiyah Alvarez. She was in the lane with 3.3 seconds left and tried to gather herself with a dribble. Instead, she lost control with a diving Jillian Aschoff (Lincoln Pius) hitting the ball into the corner. The clock ran out before Gilpin could get a corner three off. At the end of the first half, Aschoff hit almost a halfcourt three to beat the buzzer. 

Wilson had her first career double double (22 points, 11 rebounds) with Aschoff (16 points, eight assists) close to her fourth such effort of the year. Wilson's career-high 22 points featured 8 of 14 shooting with six of her boards coming on the offensive end. Next, Iowa graduate Meg Burns and Lincoln sophomore Brinly Christensen combined for 22 points, 11 rebounds and six made threes with three others between four and five points. Finally, UNK tallied 22 points off 16 Hornet turnovers and were plus 18 in fast break points

"That play late, I didn't call timeout because I didn't want them to change back to zone. Wanted man and we tried to get a post up to Kia," said Johnson. "It wasn't there but it opened up the right side for Sam."

Emporia shot an even 50 percent (27 of 54) from the field with posts Mackenzie McDaniel and Macey Gandee combining for 20 points and eight rebounds and freshman reserve Jayla Cornelius having a big second half to end with 12 points and four dimes.

UNK welcomes in first-place and nationally-ranked Pittsburg State (23-2, 15-0) Thursday night.
 
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Players Mentioned

Jillian Aschoff

#22 Jillian Aschoff

G
5' 7"
Redshirt Junior
Meg Burns

#33 Meg Burns

G/F
5' 11"
Graduate Student
Brinly Christensen

#20 Brinly Christensen

F
6' 0"
Sophomore
Samantha Moore

#12 Samantha Moore

G/F
6' 0"
Senior
Kia Wilson

#15 Kia Wilson

F
6' 1"
Graduate Student

Players Mentioned

Jillian Aschoff

#22 Jillian Aschoff

5' 7"
Redshirt Junior
G
Meg Burns

#33 Meg Burns

5' 11"
Graduate Student
G/F
Brinly Christensen

#20 Brinly Christensen

6' 0"
Sophomore
F
Samantha Moore

#12 Samantha Moore

6' 0"
Senior
G/F
Kia Wilson

#15 Kia Wilson

6' 1"
Graduate Student
F