KEARNEY – The Nebraska Kearney women’s basketball team finishes up the fall semester with road games at Newman and Central Oklahoma this weekend.
After heading to Wichita on Friday (Dec. 16) and Edmond on Monday (Dec. 18), the Lopers (8-2, 2-2) are off until a Jan. 4 home game against Lincoln. This year’s Division II moratorium – no games or practices – runs from Dec. 20-26.
The game against the Jets (1-9, 0-4) tips off at 5:30 p.m. from Fugate Gym while the battle with the Bronchos (2-8, 1-3) has been moved up to a 1:30 p.m. start. Both games will be on The MIAA Network.
UNK enters the second weekend of MIAA play ranked second in the league in both scoring offense (78.4) and scoring defense (54.6) and first in both rebounding (+13.3) and turnover (+4.60) turnover margins. The Lopers also are first in assists (17.50) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.33).
Forwards Shiloh McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) and Bailee Sobczak (Rapid City, S.D.) are combining for 24 points and 16 rebounds a night while making nearly half their field goals. Fellow post Kia Wilson (St. George, Kan.) adds another 10 points and five rebounds and shoots 78% from the line.
Next, veteran wing Meg Burns (Ankeny, Ia.) is at 10.1 points per game, joining McCool and Sobczak as Lopers averaging in double digits. She’s 21 of 42 from downtown and 8 of 11 at the line. Finally, point guard Jillian Aschoff (Lincoln Pius) has a Holiday stuffing line of 9.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists per contest. She had posted three doubles and gotten close to a rare triple double on two occasions. Darcy Stracke, in the late 1990’s, is believed to be the last Loper to achieve that feat.
Newman, led by first-year head coach Amy Briggs, has a 134-20 win over NAIA Manhattan (Kan.) Christian to its credit. They have six players between 5.7-9.4 points per game including Amiya Josey and Carissa Beck. Josey also pulls down 4.4 rebounds per game. NU shoots 35% from the field, is at 62 points per game and is 1-8 all-time vs. the Lopers.
Second-year head coach Emma Andrews has UCO at 2-8 heading into a Friday night game with nationally-ranked Fort Hays State. The ‘Chos own wins over Oklahoma Christian and Lincoln and have suffered four losses by 11 points or less.
Five-eight junior guard Karly Wadsworth (10.7) is the only player in double figures with 5-7 senior guard Aliyah Llanusa one of two players at five points and five rebounds a night. UCO is at 38% from the field, 70% at the line and has a minutes four rebounding margin. UNK swept last year’s games to grab a 13-10 series lead. The Lopers are 3-8 in Edmond since joining the MIAA prior to the 2012-13 season.
