Loper Womens Stun #8 Hays, 73-63

The Nebraska Kearney women's basketball kept its postseason hopes alive by stunning eighth-ranked Fort Hays State, 73-63, Thursday night in Kansas.

This was the regular season finale for both teams. The 10-team MIAA Tournament bracket will be released Saturday evening after the completion of all other league games.  ​

There are several tie-breaking scenarios, but UNK (15-15, 8-11) can snag a tourney spot if Arkansas-Fort Smith (4-23, 3-15) beats Rogers State (10-17, 7-11) Saturday at home. RSU defeated the Lopers, 83-75, in the lone meeting between the two. If RSU wins, others pluses would be wins by both Emporia State and Central Oklahoma. 

"You're just so proud of them for the way they battled. We won nearly every statistically category; we won in fast breaks which is what they do; we won in the paint; we won in turnovers and hit some big shots," said UNK head coach Drew Johnson. "We also made our free throws when they were trying to extend the game at the end."

The Tigers (24-4, 15-4) are just 5-3 in their last eight games and suffer their second loss in Gross Memorial Coliseum. UNK controlled the action for most of the night but needed a 9-0 run late in the third quarter to regain control. Down the stretch, the Lopers went 21 of 23 at the line to never let the Tigers get to close. Earlier this winter, UNK won at #25 Pittsburg State and beat #20 Texas-Tyler on a neutral court. 

"We still need a little bit of help, but we laid it on the line and gave it everything we got. If our season doesn't extend, it doesn't extend but we gave ourselves a chance," said Johnson.

Junior post Tara Biocanin (Serbia), senior reserve point guard Saniya Simmons (Olathe, Kan.) and freshman Myleigh Weers (Diller) got off to fast starts to help UNK grab leads of 15-9, 28-23 and 33-25. The Tigers hung around thanks to 6-4 freshman reserve Kaitlin Schumann who beat the first quarter buzzer with a half court heave.

The Loper momentum continued early in the second half as a Biocanin paint bucket made it 39-25 at the 7:54 mark. That capped an 11-0 run, but the Tigers finally woke up, thanks in large part to a rare five-point possession and Loper foul trouble. Hays out scored UNK 23-6 over the next nine minutes as they went 6 of 6 at the line and sent Weers to the bench with four fouls.

Down 48-45, UNK went on that 9-0 run that included four free throws and a banked in triple from senior point guard Jillian Aschoff (Lincoln Pius). The Tigers didn't get closer than three the rest of the way with the nation's leading scorer, junior Talexa Weeter (27.7), limited to her second lowest point total of the season (15). She missed two late free throws and fouled out to boot.

"We couldn't get any buckets (during the Tigers run) and then they got a couple doing what they do. We took a timeout there that maybe was unnecessary because it was the second one in the third quarter," said Johnson. "We just said we're not guarding the scout right now; if we just get back to that we'll be okay. And we got back to it."

Aschoff went 15 of 16 at the line to end with 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. She now has four double doubles with her 177 assists tying the school record set by Hall of Famer Jennifer Warner in 1995-96. The 15 freebies break the school mark of 14, set by all-time leading scorer Ginger Keller twice in the mid-1990's. Next, Biocanin went for 16 on 7 of 14 shooting and pulled down 11 rebounds. This is her second double double of the year. Finally, Weers hit a couple of big fourth quarter shots to have 15 with Simmons providing seven points, four steals, three rebounds and an assist.

Schumann (12) and starter Olivia Mortensen (12) joined Weeter in double figures for the Tigers. Both teams shot about 38 percent; UNK was plus one on the boards and tallied 22 points of 17 turnovers.

"We're playing our best basketball and peaking at the right time and that's why you hope you get in," said Johnson. "We'll just have to wait it out. "