The UNK basketball teams split their Thursday games against a new MIAA opponent Arkansas-Fort Smith. The women won 75-52 while the men fell 66-59 on Thursday.
UNK women’s basketball coach Drew Johnson challenged the team that two losses last weekend on the road can’t dictate how you feel about yourself.
“I thought we did a great job of taking that message, understanding what it was going to take,” Johnson said. “We had to get back to a little bit better execution of the scouting report. I thought we did a great job of that tonight. Just believing we’re a good basketball team and playing with that energy, effort and confidence.”
Arkansas-Fort Smith is the first full time member of the MIAA conference from Arkansas. Fort Smith became a Division II athletic institution in 2009 and were a member of the Heartland Conference from 2009-19. Then, the school moved into the Lone Star Conference from 2019-24 before joining the MIAA in the fall.
Fort Smith came into the game at 13-7 but UNK took control early by at the end of the first quarter the Lopers led 22-12.
Getting off to a fast start was a point of emphasis for Loper women.
“We have been coming from behind lately,” redshirt junior Jillian Aschoff said on the KLPR post-game show. “It’s very important that we aren’t playing catch up the whole game and having to do weird things and we can just play our basketball.”
The Lopers led the rest of the way, never losing that first quarter lead. UNK was able to force Fort Smith to shoot 18-66 from the field.
UNK was without starter Samatha Moore, their second leading scorer. Freshman Alex Flattery stepped up in her place scoring 11 points on 4-6 shooting. Aschoff had a double-double finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
After trailing at one point by 18, the UNK men battled back in the second half, going on an 18-4 run to cut the lead to 55-53. The run started with sophomore DJ Jamerson, who brought a spark off the bench for the lopers rolling off six points and had a highlight reel block. Junior Ja’Bryant Hill had four free throws and Junior Kendrick Gilbert had two buckets to help the Lopers.
UNK men’s basketball coach Marty Levinson was proud of his team’s effort in the way they responded in the second half.
“I was proud of them for not letting their struggle linger; they’ve done that all year long,” Levinson said. “I was proud of them for getting back into the game being down 18 but we got to find a way to come out with more energy. Something has got to give on our starts. When you start well early you give yourself such a better chance to win the game.”
Both teams were trading buckets before Roland McCoy hit the dagger three pointer that put the Lions up six with 45 seconds left. The Lopers had opportunities to score after the 3-pointer, but they were unable to capitalize. Hill led the lopers with 19 points.
On Saturday, both the Loper teams won over Northeastern State. The Loper women took control in the second quarter outscoring the Riverhawks 27-7. UNK never lost the lead, winning 79-50. Aschoff had a double-double and was one assist shy of a triple-double.
For the men it was an instant classic. Senior Chase Thompson hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left to tie it up at 87 to force overtime. UNK came out on top winning 98-96 in overtime. Graduate Allen Taylor led the Lopers with 27 points.
The Lopers will be at Newman Wednesday. Then, UNK will return home Saturday against Emporia State.
