The Loper women’s basketball team split the final week of the regular season going 1-1 against their rival Fort Hays State, the fourth ranked team in Division II. The UNK men’s basketball team also went 1-1 against the Tigers to finish out their regular season. After each team lost by significant margins in Hays on Wednesday, both teams found a way to win at home.
It was a big senior day win for the Loper women.
“You just really want to be playing good basketball going into the MIAA tournament,” said Drew Johnson, UNK women’s basketball coach. “Also, you want to represent your seniors as well. I thought we did that tonight. We represented them with toughness, heart and passion.”
The now 20-8 UNK women came out on top on Saturday against Fort Hays winning 75-65. Breaking a three game losing streak to Fort Hays. The four seniors that were recognized on Saturday were Meg Burns, Samantha Moore, Kia Wilson and Jill Aschoff, who will be returning for her fifth year.
UNK was led by Aschoff. She had a career high with 30 points while going 11-11 from the free throw line. Then, sophomore Bailee Sobczak finished with a double-double .
Fort Hays inability to hit free throws in the 4th quarter made it tough for them to comeback. UNK was able to capitalize on those misses by going 8-8 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
The win was capped off by a Burns 3-pointer with 40 seconds left.
This was a huge win for the Lopers after suffering their worst defeat on the season 92-56 against Fort Hays on Wednesday, which was rescheduled from January.
“I think we put it on ourselves,” Aschoff said on the KLPR post-game show. “Our coaches had our backs to grind on Thursday and Friday to get some really good practices in and our level of communication was great. I’m just really proud of the way we came out in this one.”
UNK will be the four seed at the MIAA tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. The Lopers will be taking on the fifth seed Washburn on Friday.
The Loper men flipped the scoreboard on Saturday winning 85-63 after losing on Wednesday 79-57 to Fort Hays State.
UNK is ready to face anyone at the MIAA tournament.
“We don’t care who they put in front of us,” said Marty Levinson, UNK men’s basketball coach. “We don’t care what seed we got, we’re competitive and we are going to show up and compete.”
On Saturday it was a slow start offensively in the first half, with both teams shooting less than 40% and Fort Hays led 31-27 at halftime. UNK used a 58-point second half including an 18-0 run which was the turning point for the Lopers. UNK shot 65% from the field in the second half to come out with the win over Fort Hays.
UNK on defense held senior guard Kaleb Hammeke, Fort Hays all time leading scorer to just 11 points after he scored 27 points on Wednesday. Senior Trey Hepburn finished with four steals, playing a big part defending Hammeke throughout the night.
UNK was led by two of their seniors in Allen Taylor and Chase Thompson. Taylor finished with 29 points tying his season high in points and Thompson tallied 22 points on the night.
A switch flipped for the Lopers in the second half.
“I’d say our ball movement, the ball finds energy and we pretty much got the ball to right guys at the right time,” Taylor said “We scored in transition pretty good. I’d say we ramped up our defense and got the easy baskets.”
It will be the first time since March of 2020 that UNK will be back in the MIAA tournament. UNK will be the five seed at the MIAA tournament in Kansas City, MO. The Lopers will face four seed Pittsburg State Friday.
