JACOB ROTH
rothjd@lopers.unk.edu
UNK women’s basketball went undefeated on the road this past weekend in Missouri. They defeated Northwest Missouri State 75-51 and edging out a victory over Missouri Western 60-57.
“We are starting to understand the value of each possession.” Said women’s basketball coach Carrie Eighmey. “A lot of times people will be up eight or ten and will take a couple of shots not a big deal, but they are a big deal. If you don’t value possessions in games that come down to one or two possessions, you are always sitting here wishing you had those possessions back.”
The UNK women’s basketball team backed up their coaches praises this weekend. After scoring the first bucket in their 75-51 victory in Maryville, the Lopers didn’t give up the lead for the rest of the game.
A lot of this came down to the offensive outburst of sophomore Brook Carlson (Elkhorn). She shot 10-15 from the field scoring 22 points and brought down 13 rebounds in the victory. Also, off the bench was freshman Madison Dreckman
(Le Mars, Iowa) scoring 14 and shooting 4-5 from three-point land.
The Lopers also played stout defense forcing NWMSU to shoot 40.7 percent from the field and 16.7 from three. Other notable defensive stats from the Lopers Thursday night game were provided by Elisa Backes. The sophomore guard from Salina, KS had four blocks in the victory over the Bearcats setting a new career high.
On Saturday afternoon UNK faced off against the Missouri Western State Griffons.
The game was back and forth with ten lead changes altogether. The Lopers were led in scoring by the grad transfer Haley Simental (Pueblo West, Colo.) with 17.
Much like Thursday’s game, Carlson and Dreckman made their presence known scoring 16 and 11 respectively.
For the Griffons they were led by Anastacia Johnson a senior guard. She led them in scoring with 20 points followed closely behind by junior Corbyn Cunningham with 15.
The game came down to a last-second shot attempt by Kylee Williams which was blocked by the Lopers Backes giving UNK the victory.
“I thought we did a great job of not letting adversity affect us,” said junior guard Kelsey Sanger after the game “We had some rough moments in the game, but we found ways to keep ourselves going. “They are a very talented team and we played with a high mental and physical toughness.”
