UNK WBB: Lopers Lead From Start to Finish, Advance in MIAA's

The Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team sank 22 of 24 free throws and forward Shiloh McCool had a game-high 21 points to help the Lopers hold off Washburn, 72-65, Wednesday afternoon in a MIAA Tournament first-round game in Kansas City.

The seventh-seeded Lopers (19-10) will face second-seed Northwest Missouri State (22-6) in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. The two teams split the regular season series, but UNK has won 14 of the last 17 meetings between the two. That includes wins in the past two MIAA tourneys.

UNK scored the first 11 points today and never trailed the 10th-seeded Ichabods (13-16). However, WU hung around thanks to the play of senior guard Aubree Dewey (20 points, seven assists) and 6-2 sophomore post Yibari Nwidadah (11 points, five rebounds, multiple altered shots). The 'Bods also slapped on a full-court press in the second half and that led to 20 points off 20 Lopers turnovers.  ​

"Proud of our team. Basketball is a game of runs and that was especially the case today," said UNK head coach Drew Johnson. "Prod of our resiliency … that word was said in the locker room and it's true. The ability to continue to fight, continue to preserve through adversity and when it wasn't going our way."

The Lopers led 29-13 after the first quarter, 42-27 at the break and 65-52 with 7:29 remaining. But Washburn went on a 13-2 run over the next six minutes to get as close as they had been all day. After Nwidadah went 1 of 2 at the line to cap the run, UNK saw another shot roll off the rim. They finished just 2 of 15 from the field in the final quarter.

However, turnabout is fair play as WU's Mackenzie Gamble saw her game-tying layup roll off the iron with 1:12 remaining and McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) grabbed the rebound. UNK finished the scoring by going 7 of 7 at the line with the 'Bods missing their last four shots.

"The ability to make free throws late was obviously really important," said Johnson. "There was a bunch of flows in the game, and we could've called a timeout (during WU's run). We had to adjust to the 2-2-1 (press) but we were getting the looks, getting good shots. So, the message was just keep going."

Shooting 73% from the stripe coming into the tourney, the Blue & Gold went 8 for 8 in the fourth quarter, 8 for 10 in the third and 6 for 6 in the first half. Six different players made at least two freebies led by Iowa redshirt junior wing Meg Burns (6 for 6), McCool (5 for 5) and Mullen junior wing Samantha Moore (4 for 4). The 91.6% effort trails only a 94.1% mark (16 for 17) against Missouri Southern on Feb. 22. WU wasn't bad either, making 10 of 13 shots.

UNK also reached 50 rebounds (53) for the ninth time this winter. Lincoln redshirt sophomore point guard Jillian Aschoff had a game-high 10, South Dakota redshirt freshman post Bailee Sobczak grabbed nine with Kansas redshirt senior post Kia Wilson having eight off the bench. She also had nine points with Washburn having only 31 boards.

McCool reached her point tally thanks to an 8 of 17 effort from the field. Having a quick 10 points, she also had seven rebounds and drew six fouls. Next, Burns had 10 with Aschoff and Moore joining Wilson with nine points apiece. Finally, Sobczak is up to 95 offensive rebounds, tied with Melissa Hinkley (2007-08) for the second most in a single season, with McCool at 274 in total caroms. That is tied for third most in one year.

Dewey, who had 21 vs. the Lopers back in January, made 8 of 18 shots (2 of 8 threes) and had five rebounds as well. Nwidadah got into early foul trouble but had a big second half and logged 29 minutes. Finally, Omaha sophomore guard Aniah Wayne had 10 points on two threes coming off the bench.

"Northwest is another talented team and they'll be solid on the defensive end. They work hard to try and create advantages in 1-on-1 situations," said Johnson. "They have several players that can really space the floor and we'll need to guard them well in a couple of modes that they are playing in right now."