Monday Morning Sports – Broncos’ Gavers Retires After Nine Seasons, Nebraska Basketball Sweeps Sunday, UNK Women Placed Third in MIAA Tournament, Kearney Catholic and Kearney High Put Season on Line Tonight, Nebraska Football Spring Practice Begins, Local Sports Schedule

HASTINGS COLLEGE COACH GAVERS RETIRES AFTER NINE SEASONS:

Hastings College Head Men’s Basketball Coach Bill Gavers has announced retirement from his position.

Gavers led the team to winning records in four of his nine seasons and in three seasons of Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play. 

His finest overall seasons were in 2013-14 when he led the team to a 21-10 overall record and 14-6 in the GPAC, good for fourth place in league, and in 2018-19 when his team was 20-11 overall and 10-8 in conference. Those teams received votes in the final NAIA Top 25 poll. His biggest postseason win came in 2020 when the eighth seeded Broncos upset GPAC Champion and nationally ranked #2 Morningside University 84-80 in the GPAC Quarterfinals. 

Over his nine seasons at Hastings College, his overall record was 133-139 and 74-102 in GPAC play.

Gavers is a 1988 Hastings College graduate. During the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons, he played for then-Bronco Head Coach Mike Trader. The 1987-88 team was inducted into the Hastings College Hall of Fame in 1997. Gavers also played on the Bronco Men’s Tennis team and was named Academic All-American for tennis in 1987.

NEBRASKA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL WINS OVER NORTHWESTERN:

Isabelle Bourne, Jaz Shelley and Alexis Markowski put together big games to power the Nebraska women’s basketball team to a 73-59 victory over Northwestern to close out the regular season on Sunday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

With the victory, Nebraska improved to 22-7 overall while tying the school record with its 16th home win of the year. The Huskers, who have won five of their past six games, capped the Big Ten regular season with an 11-7 record to earn the No. 6 seed in this week’s conference tournament in Indianapolis. A total of 15 of Nebraska’s 16 home wins were by double digits, including wins over top-10 Big Ten foes Michigan and Indiana.

Nebraska, which earned a first-round bye in the 14-team tournament, will take on the winner of Wednesday’s first-round game between No. 11 seed Wisconsin and No. 14 seed Illinois.

NEBRASKA MEN WIN IN HAPPY VALLEY:

Bryce McGowens’ 25 points led five Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska put together its most complete performance of the season in a 93-70 win over Penn State Sunday night. 

McGowens was efficient, hitting 8-of-13 shots from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers, as Nebraska shot 58.2 percent from the field, including 13-of-20 from 3-point range against a Penn State team that was allowing less than 65 points per game in Big Ten play to lead the conference.

The Huskers continue their two-game road swing on Tuesday night, as the Huskers travel to No. 22 Ohio State. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. (central) and the game will be televised by BTN and carried on the Huskers Radio Network.

KEARNEY GIRLS DOWN GRETNA, FACE FREMONT ON TUESDAY:

The Kearney High Girls basketball team took a defensive slugfest in the second half from the Gretna Dragons but ended up the victors winning 48-44 on Saturday afternoon. Click here to see the game recap.

With their win, the Bearcats season now gets put to the test with the second trip to face the #1 seeded Fremont Tigers on Tuesday night. 

Pregame on KGFW begins at 6:15 PM with Austin Jacobsen and Ford Clark on the call. Tip-off time set for the A-2 District Final is set for 6:30 PM. 

KEARNEY CATHOLIC STARS LOOK TO PUNCH TICKET TO STATE:

Following a dominant run in the C1-11 Sub-district resulting in another sub-district championship for the Kearney Catholic Boys Basketball team, the Stars look to earn another trip to the state tournament with a win in a district final matchup against Chadron.

Both teams will meet in Ogallala for the neutral site, as #3 Kearney Catholic (24-1) takes on #14 Chadron at 6 PM MT. 

BEARCAT BOYS LOOK TO EXTEND SEASON WITH WIN IN OMAHA:

The Kearney High Boys Basketball team looks to extend their season another game as they travel back to the Metro to battle Omaha North in the A-1 District Tournament tonight. 

Kearney (12-10) ended the year as a #3 seed and battles #2 Omaha North (13-10) at 6 PM tonight. Pregame on KGFW begins at 5:45 PM with Austin Jacobsen on the call. 

UNK WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PLACED IN MIAA TOURNAMENT:

The Nebraska-Kearney women’s basketball team will take on the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats Friday afternoon in the 2022 MIAA Tournament in Kansas City.

The 10-team event gets underway Wednesday with the 8/9 and 7/10-seeded games. The winners of those contests advance to Thursday where they’ll face the top two seeds, Missouri Southern State and Fort Hays State.

The third-seeded Lopers (22-6) are defending tourney champs. They have won five straight over the sixth-seeded ‘Cats (17-11) including sweeping this year’s series. The wins came by scores of 68-51 in Kearney (Feb. 23) and 67-60 in Maryville (Jan. 15). UNK-NW play the second game on Friday which should start around 2:15 p.m.

STORM SWEEP WEEKEND OVER SIOUX FALLS:

More than 4,000 fans packed into the Viaero Center on Saturday night to watch the league-leading Tri-City Storm post a two-game weekend sweep of the Sioux Falls Stampede. 

The Storm downed the Stampede by a final score of 4-1 in front of the largest crowd to attend a game at the Viaero Center since the team captured its first Clark Cup Championship in a 4-1 win over the Dubuque Fighting Saints on May 20th, 2016, in front of a crowd of 4,088.

Tri-City hits the ice again on Friday, March 4th, in a road game against the Des Moines Buccaneers. Puck drop is set for 7:00pm CT.

LOPER WRESTLING DOMINATE REGIONAL, QUALIFY NINE FOR NATIONALS:

The third-ranked Nebraska-Kearney wrestling team had one of its most dominant performances in a major tournament as it scored 175.50 points to win Super Region VI Saturday night in Grand Junction, Colo.

This was national qualifying weekend in NCAA Division II. The top three finishers in each of 10 weight classes at six super regional sites (180 wrestlers total) advance to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis March 11-12.

After a long day, UNK totaled nine national qualifiers, eight champions, a second and fourth place finishers and a combined mark of 33-3. That included seven falls, 10 tech falls and four major decisions. The Lopers 175.50 points is a new program record, besting the 148.0 set two years ago, and allows the team to win this tournament for an 18th time and for a fourth year in a row. 

Find a full list of qualifiers here.

NEBRASKA FOOTBALL STARTS SPRING PRACTICE:

The Nebraska football team concluded their winter conditioning on Friday and kick off the spring practice schedule today in Lincoln. 

Head Coach Scott Frost will make opening comments in a press conference today, the first Frost has been available since the National Signing Day earlier this month. 

Some key storylines to follow in the spring period:

• What quarterback will emerge as the #1 choice? (Casey Thompson, Chubba Purdy, Logan Smothers, or another name?)
• What running back will become the feature back? (Rahmir Johnson, Jaquez Yant, any of the notable transfers or young recruits?)
• Can the defense live up to expectations after a stellar 2021?
• How will the assistant coaching hires make a difference in 2020? (Mickey Joseph for receivers, Mark Whipple as offensive coordinator, Bill Busch as special teams coordinator to name a few)
• Will Alberts’ trust (and patience) in Scott Frost result in a winning season for the first time since 2016?

Link up with more details and hot links at Huskermax.com

HUSKER BASEBALL FALL TO 1-6 WITH DISAPPOINTING WEEKEND:

The Nebraska baseball team fell 5-3 on Sunday afternoon in the series finale against No. 17 TCU at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The Huskers loaded the bases with two outs in top of the ninth but had their ninth-inning rally fall short in a bang-bang play at first base.

The game concluded a weekend in which the Huskers could not stop TCU, falling to the Horned Frogs on Friday and Saturday.

Nebraska returns to Arlington next weekend for four games at UT Arlington, including two games each against the Mavericks and Northwestern State. Next weekend’s schedule includes non-traditional doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.

UNK SOFTBALL WINS ONE OVER WEEKEND:

Senior Kelsey Goodban tossed a five-hit complete game shut out and freshman designated player Lyndsey Roth went 3 for 4 to help Nebraska-Kearney roll past Mary (N.D.), 6-0, Sunday afternoon in Topeka, Kan.

This game was part of the Washburn Invite. The multi-team tourney began Saturday with UNK (4-8) falling to Missouri-St. Louis, 5-4, on Sunday morning to start the weekend. The Lopers face Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State on Monday; the tourney was pushed back a full day due to weather.

Local Results & Schedules:

THIS WEEK IN LOCAL SPORTS:

SATURDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
• • GIRLS BASKETBALL: A-2 District Basketball Tournament:
    • #2 Kearney v. #3 Gretna @ Kearney High School
      • #2 KHS 48-44

MONDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: A-1 District Semifinal @ Omaha North – 6 PM
    • #3 Kearney @ #2 Omaha North
      • Pregame on KGFW at 5:45 PM
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: District Final @ Ogallala – 6 PM
    • #3 Kearney Catholic v. #14 Chadron
• UNK:
  • SOFTBALL: @ Washburn Classic – Topeka, KS
    • V. Southwest Minn. St.
    • V. Wayne State
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

TUESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • GIRLS BASKETBALL: A-2 District Final @ Fremont – 6:30 PM
    • #2 Kearney @ #1 Fremont
      • Pregame on KGFW at 6:15 PM
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

WEDNESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • BOYS BASKETBALL: A-1 District Final – TBA
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

THURSDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a

• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • M/W T&F @ NAIA Indoor Championships

FRIDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • WOMENS BASKETBALL: @ MIAA TOURNAMENT – 2:15 PMTBA
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • SOFTBALL: @ Langston Red Dirt Tourney
  • WRESTLING: @ NAIA National Championships
  • M/W T&F @ NAIA Indoor Championships

SATURDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • WRESTLING: @ NAIA National Championships
  • M/W T&F @ NAIA Indoor Championships