JACOB ROTH
rothjd@lopers.unk.edu
UNK women’s basketball found victory over No. 16 Fort Hays once again this weekend. They defeated the Tigers 72-67 at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays, Kansas.
“Every game we play in we love to establish a post presence,” said women’s basketball coach Carrie Eighmey. “Sometimes that is easier said than done just by the way people are defending. I also think our players are starting to understand how to make themselves open even when teams are keying in on them.”
The matchup between the Lopers and the Tigers did not disappoint. The game was a back and forth affair with the lead shifting between the teams 16 times before the final buzzer sounded.
UNK was first on the board with a short jump shot by sophomore center Brooke Carlson (Elkhorn) giving them the 2-0 advantage.
A quick response from the Tigers senior guard Taylor Rolfs evened the score at 2-2.
This was the story of how the rest of the quarter would go with a back and forth battle. The Lopers went into the second with a 22-21 lead.
As quarter two was coming to a close the Lopers caught fire scoring ten points in 2:29 to close out the half.
This scoring explosion began with a three-pointer from the graduate transfer Haley Simental (Pueblo West, CO.) making the score 41-38 off the Elisa Backes (Salina, KS) assist.
Backes followed the assist up with a two-point jumper of her own extending the lead to five.
After a series of misses and offensive rebounds for Adreon Bell (Independence, MO), Barbieri for the Tigers was forced into a turnover with 43 seconds left in the second quarter.
Maegan Holt (Council Bluffs, IA) took advantage of the turnover getting the ball to Backes to continue this scoring outburst.
To end the half, freshman Madison Dreckman (Le Mars, IA) hit a buzzer-beater three to put the Lopers up by ten points 48-38
With a double-digit advantage, the Lopers kept their foot on the gas extending their lead to 14 early in the third.
As Fort Hays tried to mount a comeback, UNK was able to get small bursts of scoring from all over the roster not letting the Tigers get within four for the remainder of the contest with the final score being 72-67.
Statistically, the Lopers had a great game on both sidesshooting 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and held the Tigers to 37.3 percent.
Scoring for the Lopers came from all over the court having five players with double-digit scoring. Those being Carlson who led the team with 18, Kelsey Sanger (Crofton) and Simental with 12. Off the bench, both Backes and Dreckman had 10.
“As a team, we do a great job of naturally sharing the ball.” said sophomore center Brooke Carson after the game “This is what makes us very hard to defend because everyone is unselfish and capable of scoring. We are good at being able to read where the open man is and make a great pass to create opportunities for others.”
With the win, the Lopers currently have a record of 20-2.
The women’s team have two games, at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday against Central Oklahoma (15-6) and at 2 p.m. on February 8 against Newman University (9-13) at the Health and Sports Center.