Monday Afternoon Sports – Husker Men’s Hoops Opens Season, Nebraska Women Crush Omaha, Loper Athletics Weekend Recap, NFL Sunday Scores, Monday Sports Preview

HUSKER MEN’S HOOPS OPENS SEASON TODAY:

The Nebraska men’s basketball team tips off the 2022-23 season later in the evening against Maine. Tip off from Pinnacle Bank Arena between the Huskers and Black Bears is set for 7 p.m.

The Huskers, who begin their 127th season on Monday, went 1-1 during its two exhibition contests. NU defeated Chadron State 87-60 on Oct. 23 before falling at Colorado, 72-61, in a charity exhibition on Oct. 30.

KGFW will broadcast the Husker Men’s matchup with Maine with pregame beginning at 6 PM.

NEBRASKA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL DOMINATES SEASON OPENER:

Isabelle Bourne scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds as No. 22 Nebraska opened the season with a 100-36 win over Omaha on Monday.

Allison Weidner added 19 points and nine rebounds, and South Dakota transfer Maddy Krull had 18 points with four 3-pointers for Nebraska.

Nineteen Maverick turnovers turned into 25 Nebraska points.

The Huskers return to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday set to face Houston Christian at 8 PM. 

STATE VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS RECAP:

The 2022 State Volleyball Champion field had several familiar faces and plenty of great battles for statewide supremacy on Saturday. 

Papillion-LaVista South edged past Westside in four sets for the Class A title. In Class B, Elkhorn North fell to Omaha Skutt Catholic, now earning their eighth consecutive state title. 

Class C1 crowned Grand Island Central Catholic over Gothenburg in a challenging four set match. North Bend Central fell to Minden in three sets as the Whippets claimed third place. 

In Class C2, Lincoln Lutheran won over Archbishop Bergan in a sweep. Amherst ended their season at fourth with a sweep loss to Oakland-Craig.

Class D1 had Cedar Catholic winning in a passionate five set battle over Norfolk Catholic. 

Finally, Class D2 had its own theatrics as Overton ended as state runner-up falling to Howells-Dodge in five sets. Shelton also earned third in D2 winning in four sets over Humphrey St. Francis. 

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL QUARTERFINAL RESULTS; SEMIFINALS SET:

Some seasons continued on Friday night, while others came to a heartbreaking finish in the quarterfinal round of the NSAA State Football playoffs. 

In Class A, top seed Omaha Westside will face Grand Island after the Islanders pushed past Millard South 28-10. Creighton Prep downed Elkhorn South and will face Gretna. 

Waverly will face Bennington in Class B, as Scottsbluff takes on Omaha Gross Catholic. 

In C1, Aurora and Boone Central have a rematch while Adams Central upset McCook and now faces Pierce. 

Class C2 has Battle Creek facing Cedar Catholic after both teams upset Hastings St. Cecilia and Malcolm, respectively. 

Into 8-Man where in Class D1 North Platte St. Pats will face Neligh-Oakdale and Stanton takes on Clarkson/Leigh. In D2 Howells-Dodge faces Central Valley as the Cougars took down BDS and Bloomfield will face Hitchcock County after dismantling Elm Creek 58-6. 

Finally, 6-Man saw state-favorite Potter-Dix fall to Pawnee City as they take on Arthur County. #1 SEM has a rematch set with Parkview Christian. 

Full game details and kickoff times can be found at the NSAA website. 

LOPER FOOTBALL OVERCOMES TURNOVERS, WINS ON LATE FIELD GOAL:

Super senior Junior Gonzalez hit a 28-yard field goal as time expired to lift Nebraska Kearney to a 20-18 win over Central Oklahoma Saturday afternoon at Ron & Carol Cope Stadium.

This was UNK’s home finale and “Senior Day” for 19 traditional and Super Seniors. The Lopers (7-3) keep their bowl game hopes alive while the Bronchos (5-5) drop a third straight game. These two teams will meet in Edmond next September to start the 2023 season.

UCO turned four UNK turnovers into nine points and controlled the second half to erase a 17-6 deficit. 

The Lopers close out the regular season next Saturday in Tahlequah, Okla., against Northeastern State (2-8). The RiverHawks fell today at Fort Hays State, 37-14.

HUSKER VOLLEYBALL RALLIES PAST NORTHWESTERN IN FIVE SETS:

The No. 4 Nebraska volleyball team survived an upset bid from Northwestern with a 3-2 win at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday afternoon. 

The Huskers (21-2, 13-1 Big Ten) dropped sets one and three and were down 23-21 in the fourth set. But the Huskers found a way to outscore Northwestern 19-6 from that point on to finish out the comeback win on the road. 

Whitney Lauenstein had 16 kills and seven blocks and hit .353 to lead the Huskers. Madi Kubik had 15 kills and eight digs, and Lindsay Krause tallied 14 kills and hit .379. 

The Huskers host Iowa on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. It is set to be Nebraska’s 300th consecutive regular-season sellout.

UNK WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SPLITS KANSAS CITY WEEKEND:

After downing Southern Nazarene 75-53 on Saturday morning, the UNK Women’s Basketball could not contain No. 6 West Texas A&M and sophomore guard Karley Motschenbacher – who added 21 points in a 59-53 Lady Buffs win. 

Senior Klaire Kirsch (12) and Kansas senior forward Elisa Backes (10) combined for 22 points as each made four field goals and grabbed seven rebounds as well.

UNK hosts Minnesota-Crookston (Saturday) and Southwest Minnesota State (Saturday) next weekend. Northwest Missouri State will be in attendance as well and plays the early contest each day. 

LOPER VOLLEYBALL ENDS SEASON No. 2 IN MIAA; FACES GRIFFONS IN REMATCH:

The UNK Volleyball team ended their regular season with back-to-back home sweeps over Pittsburg State and Missouri Southern, dominating both conference teams to stay strong at 26-4 on the season.

UNK enters the conference tournament at No. 2, having lost the regular season title to Northwest Missouri State who cemented their first regular season MIAA title in school history last week. 

The Lopers head to St. Joseph for the MIAA tournament facing Missouri Western State on Thursday at noon. Missouri Western is the host of this year’s MIAA Tournament. UNK has taken 6 of the 7 sets played between the two on the season, including a 3-1 win on Sept. 23 in St. Joseph. 

NFL SCORES/SCHEDULES:

SUNDAY:

New England Patriots 26-3 Indianapolis Colts

Detroit Lions 15-6 Green Bay Packers

Los Angeles Chargers 20-17 Atlanta Falcons

New York Jets 20-17 Buffalo Bills

Minnesota Vikings 20-17 Washington Commanders

Cincinnati Bengals 42-21 Carolina Panthers

Jacksonville Jaguars 27-20 Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins 35-32 Chicago Bears

Seattle Seahawks 31-21 Arizona Cardinals

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16-13 Los Angeles Rams

Kansas City Chiefs 20-17 Tennessee Titans (OT)

MONDAY:

Baltimore Ravens @ New Orleans Saints – 7:15 PM

Local Results & Schedules:

THIS WEEK IN LOCAL SPORTS:

SATURDAY:

• UNK:
  • Women’s Swimming: @ UNK Invite @ Kearney High School
    • UNK = 1st of 3 (1,085 points)
  • M/W Cross Country: @ Joplin, MO
    • UNK MEN: 2nd (68 points)
    • UNK WOMEN: 2nd (67 points)
  • Women’s Basketball: v. Southern Nazarene @ Kansas City, MO
    • UNK 75-53 Southern Nazarene
  • Football: v. Central Oklahoma @ Ron & Carol Cope Stadium
    • UNK 20-18 UCO

SUNDAY:

• UNK:
  • Women’s Basketball: v. West Texas A&M @ Kansas City, MO
    • West Texas A&M 59-53 UNK

MONDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • Unified Bowling: McCook Varsity Dual @ Big Apple – 4 PM
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Nebraska Men’s Basketball v. Maine (6 PM – 9:45 PM)

TUESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Sports Nightly (6 PM – 8 PM)

WEDNESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • Collegiate Signing Day @ Kearney High School – 4 PM
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Sports Nightly (6 PM – 8 PM)

THURSDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • Volleyball: MIAA Tournament @ St. Joseph, MO – 12 PM
    • UNK v. Missouri Western State
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Nebraska Men’s Basketball v. Omaha (6 PM – 9:45 PM)

FRIDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • Swimming: @ Eagle Invitational, Oklahoma City, OK – 10 AM/6 PM
  • Women’s Basketball: v. Minnesota-Crookston @ Health & Sports Center – 7 PM
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Nebraska Volleyball v. Iowa (5:30 PM – 8:45 PM)

SATURDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • Unified Bowling: @ Grand Island Invite @ Westside Lanes – 1 PM
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • Swimming: @ Eagle Invitational, Oklahoma City, OK – 10 AM/6 PM
  • Wrestling; @ Dakota Wesleyan Open, Mitchell, SD – 9 AM
  • Football: @ Northeastern State, Tahlequah, OK – 2 PM
  • Women’s Basketball v. Southwest Minnesota St. @ Health & Sports Center – 4 PM
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Nebraska Football @ Michigan (10:30 AM – 9:30 PM) – KGFW
  • Nebraska Football @ Michigan (1:45 PM – 7:45 PM) – KQKY-HITS 106

SUNDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • Swimming: @ Eagle Invitational, Oklahoma City, OK – 10 AM/6 PM
  • Wrestling: v. Chadron State @ Health & Sports Center – 12 PM
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Nebraska Volleyball @ Ohio State (3 PM – 6:15 PM)