Tuesday Morning Sports – Kearney High Sweeps Opening Round of HAC, Williams Named Coach of the Week, Stewart Receives Big Ten Honor, Husker Women Start Time Moved, Huskers Offer Portal Quarterback, Local Sports Schedule

KEARNEY HIGH BASKETBALL WINS DOUBLEHEADER, TRAVELS TO PIUS:

Both Kearney basketball teams took care of business on Monday afternoon, sweeping the doubleheader at Kearney High School and punching their ticket to take on Lincoln Pius X in the second round of the Heartland Athletic Conference Tournament.

The #6 Bearcat girls (5-2) take on #3 Pius (5-1) at 2 PM from Lincoln Pius High School. 

The #6 Kearney Boys (4-3) will follow the girls’ contest with their matchup with #3 Pius (4-2). 

Game recaps from Monday can be found at KGFW.com. Pregame coverage for today’s HAC Tournament matchups starts at 1:45 PM and 3:30 PM on KGFW (1340 AM, 96.1 FM, KGFW.com, and on the free KGFW App.)

OTHER NOTABLE HAC SCORES/SCHEDULES:

BOYS:

Monday:

#9 Grand Island 64 – 36 #8 Norfolk

#5 Lincoln Southeast 64 – 56 #12 Lincoln High

#6 Kearney 77 – 36 #11 Fremont

#7 Lincoln North Star 67 – 53 #10 Columbus

Tuesday: (Higher seed hosts)

#1 Lincoln Southwest v. #9 Grand Island

#4 Lincoln Northeast v. #5 Lincoln Southeast

#3 Lincoln Pius X v. #6 Kearney

#2 Lincoln East v. #7 Lincoln North Star

GIRLS:

Monday:

#9 Columbus 54 – 50 #8 Lincoln Southeast (OT)

#5 Lincoln Northeast 66 – 6 #12 Grand Island

#6 Kearney 64 – 34 #11 Lincoln North Star

#7 Lincoln East 58 – 31 #10 Norfolk

Tuesday: (Higher seed hosts)

#1 Lincoln Southwest v. #10 Columbus

#4 Fremont v. #5 Lincoln Northeast

#3 Lincoln Pius X v. #6 Kearney

#2 Lincoln High v. #7 Lincoln East

AMY WILLIAMS NAMED COACH OF THE WEEK:

The Nebraska women’s basketball team is finally getting some national attention for all the hard work they have done on the hardwood. More importantly, head coach Amy Williams is the one this time around with the ESPN National Coach of the Week honors.

Amy has guided the Huskers to a 12-0 start and are sitting on the precipice of being ranked in the top 25. Their most recent victory was a 72-61 game against Wyoming last Wednesday.

This is Amy’s sixth season at Nebraska as head coach. She was also a player for the Huskers from 1994 to 1998. She is 84-75 all-time as the Huskers head coach. 

The last time the Huskers made the NCAA Tournament was back in 2017.

HUSKERS WOMEN RATED JUST OUTSIDE TOP 25:

The Nebraska Women’s basketball team is ranked just outside the Top 25 once again despite being only one of five remaining Division 1 teams that remains unbeaten on the season. 

The most recent coaches poll has Nebraska ranked at 29th overall. 

The 12-0 Huskers take on Michigan State on Thursday at 2 PM from East Lansing. The Huskers were perfect in non-conference play, wrapping up with a win over 2021 Mountain West Conference champ Wyoming last week.

NEBRASKA WOMEN START TIME AGAINST SPARTANS MOVED UP:

The Nebraska women’s basketball game at Michigan State has moved to a 2 p.m. (CT) tip and has been added to the Big Ten Network television schedule

The Huskers (12-0, 1-0 Big Ten), one of five remaining unbeaten teams in NCAA Division I women’s basketball, were originally scheduled to take on the Spartans at the Breslin Center in East Lansing at 1 p.m., in a game with no live television coverage.

The Big Ten Conference and the Big Ten Network requested the one-hour slide in the original game time and added the contest to accommodate the move to BTN. It will become Nebraska’s third game on BTN this season.

HUSKERS’ STEWART EARNS BIG TEN HONOR:

Nebraska’s Annika Stewart earned the first Big Ten honor of her career when she was named to the conference’s weekly honor roll (Dec. 27) for her career performance in a win over Wyoming to close non-conference play.

Stewart, a 6-3 forward/center from Minneapolis, erupted for a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting in just 15 minutes of action off the bench to help Nebraska complete an unbeaten regular-season non-conference schedule against Wyoming. Stewart hit 3-of-7 three-pointers and recorded a career-high three blocked shots in the win over the defending Mountain West Conference champion Cowgirls.

For the season, the second-year Husker is averaging 7.2 points and 2.6 rebounds while hitting 54.2 percent of her shots from the field, including 41.4 percent (12-29) of her three-pointers.

HUSKERS OFFER FLORIDA STATE PORTAL QUARTERBACK:

On Monday Nebraska officially offered Florida State’s Chubba Purdy. New Husker offensive coordinator Mark Whipple conducted an in-home visit with Purdy less than 24 hours before he resigned at Pittsburgh on Dec. 7. 

Purdy also visited Pitt the weekend of Dec. 11, but the Panthers took a commitment from USC transfer quarterback Kedon Slovis on Dec. 21.

Purdy also made it known he obviously would like to have his decision made in time to enroll at his new school for the start of the second semester.

Purdy would technically be able to visit NU as early as Jan. 14 when the recruiting dead period ends. Classes resume back on Jan. 18 in Lincoln. Purdy is the younger brother of Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy.

NFL SCORES:

Monday:

Miami Dolphins 20 – 3 New Orleans Saints

FORMER HUSKER BURKHEAD POWERS NEW CAREER HIGH IN WIN:

Former Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead was the star of the show for the Houston Texans on Sunday, rushing for 149 yards and a pair of TDs enroute to a win for Houston.

Burkhead is on his third team since joining the league in 2013. Burkhead has previously spent time with the Cincinnati Bengals and the New England Patriots.

Local Results & Schedules:

THIS WEEK IN LOCAL SPORTS:

MONDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • GIRLS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Day 1)
    • #6 KHS v. #11 Lincoln North Star
      • KHS 64-34
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Day 1)
    • #6 KHS v. #11 Fremont
      • KHS 77-36

TUESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • GIRLS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Day 2)
    • #6 KHS @  #3 Lincoln Pius X
      • Pregame on KGFW at 1:45 PM; Listen on 96.1 FM, 1340 AM, KGFW App, and at KGFW.com
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Day 2)
    • #6 KHS @ #3 Lincoln Pius X
      • Pregame on KGFW at 3:30 PM; Listen on 96.1 FM, 1340 AM, KGFW App, and at KGFW.com

• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a

• UNK:
  • N/a

• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

WEDNESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • GIRLS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Day 3)
    • #6 KHS v. TBA
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Day 3)
    • #6 KHS v. TBA

• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • GIRLS BASKETBALL: KCHS Holiday Tournament
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: KCHS Holiday Tournament

• UNK:
  • N/a

• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

THURSDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • GIRLS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Championship @ Lincoln Southeast)
    • #6 KHS v. TBA
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: HAC TOURNAMENT (Championship @ Lincoln Southeast)
    • #6 KHS v. TBA

• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • GIRLS BASKETBALL: KCHS Holiday Tournament
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: KCHS Holiday Tournament

• UNK:
  • N/a

• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • MENS BASKETBALL: v. Graceland @ Lynn Farrell Arena – 5 PM

FRIDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a

• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a

• UNK:
  • N/a

• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

SATURDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a

• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a

• UNK:
  • WOMENS BASKETBALL: @ Rogers State – 1:30 PM
  • MENS BASKETBALL: @ Rogers State, 3:30 PM

• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • WOMENS BASKETBALL: v. No. 23 Briar Cliff @ Lynn Farrell Arena – 2 PM
  • MENS BASKETBALL: v. Briar Cliff @ Lynn Farrell Arena – 3:45 PM