Aschoff Has Second Triple Double but Lopers Fall to #6 Tigers, 84-73

The sixth-ranked Fort Hays State Tigers were strong in the second half and got big performances from junior wing Talexa Weeter and senior point guard Brooke Loewe to down Nebraska Kearney, 84-73, Tuesday night at Buckle Court.

Hays (13-1, 4-1) will host UNK (9-7, 2-3) in the regular season finale Feb. 2.

The Lopers held leads of 27-19 and 50-40 but behind the nation's leading scorer, Weeter, and the nation's assist leader, Loewe, the Tigers closed on a 44-23 run. Weeter (28.9 ppg) went for a game-high 30 by going 11 of (2 of 3 threes) from the field and 6 of 8 at the line. She worked around three fouls to also have eight boards and three dimes. Next, Loewe (10.3 apg) had a school record 17 assists with many of her passes finding Weeter.

"They score the ball well and are the sixth team in the country for a reason. They are a good basketball team and well coached," said Loper head coach Drew Johnson. "We couldn't get quite enough stops to hang at the end."

Senior point guard Jillian Aschoff (Lincoln Pius) had her second triple double of the season (21 points, 10 rebounds & 10 assists), but the Lopers saw that 10-point second half lead evaporate quickly. An 8-0 spurt made it 50-40 midway through the third and was capped by a three from Polish senior Malgorzata Byczkowska. However, UNK finished 6 of 23 from deep with Hays erasing that double digit deficit prior to the start of the fourth.

"I thought there was a time midway through the third they were going to take a timeout. We were on a run but then committed like five turnovers in seven possessions which ends up kind of stymieing our momentum," said Johnson.

Hays outscored UNK 30-19 over the final 10 minutes as they shot 73% (11 of 15) from the field and went 6 of 6 at the line. On the night, the Tigers were plus five on the glass, tallied 29 points off 18 Loper turnovers, banked in two threes and got a big third quarter from reserve Avery Lowe (11 points).

Becoming the 39th Loper to reach 900 career points (905), Aschoff finished 8 of 20 from the field. Finally, Diller freshman Myleigh Weers had 21 points thanks to a big first half and Scottsbluff sophomore left reserve Paige Horne provided six points and six rebounds (three offensive).

"We're not going to walk into any game timid and we're jelling now in a good way. I'm excited for what the future looks like for this basketball team for the rest of the season," said Johnson. "We had a lot of stuff that went well tonight, but we didn't make as many threes as we've been hitting."

The Lopers head to Emporia State (7-6, 1-3) on Saturday and will be the second game of the day.