Loper Women Fly By the Jets, Improve to 18-5

Graduate forward Kia Wilson tied her career-high of 20 points to help Nebraska Kearney fly past Newman, 69-42, Thursday night in Wichita.

The Lopers (18-5, 11-3) take the only meeting between the two this year and now lead the all-time series by a 12-1 margin.  

UNK scored 12 of the game's first 14 points and didn't have to break a hard sweat on "Homecoming Night" for Newman (7-17, 2-13). The Lopers recorded a season-best 13 steals, 11 coming in the first half, held the Jets to 1 of 17 from deep with nine different players getting into the scoring column.

"The second half was a little bit of a grind, and we didn't adjust very well. They called it a little tighter in the second half," said UNK head coach Drew Johnson on the KRVN Radio post-game show. "On a night where we didn't shoot the three very well, we got a lot of points in the paint and our guards were in attack mode."

Wilson (St. George, Kan.) continues her strong second semester by going 9 of 15 from the field and 2 for 2 at the line. She previously went for 20 points in a Jan. 2024 loss at Missouri Southern. Next, redshirt sophomore post Bailee Sobczak (Rapid City, S.D.) had 10 points on 5 of 10 shooting while adding four boards. UNK ended the game at 43% from the field and grabbed 11 offensive caroms.

"We were kind of normal in that everyone chipped in something and then I thought defensively we were locked in again. Happy how we executed the game plan and happy with the approach our players took," said Johnson. "Saniya (Simmons) flipped a switch about three weeks ago. She has been relentless defensively."

Ahead 38-19 at the break, the Lopers out scored the Jets by three in the third quarter with a choppy fourth featuring six buckets and five freebies for UNK. Besides the posts, Lincoln junior point guard Jillian Aschoff had another all-around effort (seven assists, seven rebounds, four steals, three points) with Lincoln sophomore forward Brinly Christensen supplying her typical strong defense as well as eight points thanks to two threes. Finally, Newman got 14 points and four rebounds from Jaeden McMillin.

UNK hosts Emporia State (9-14, 4-10) on Saturday afternoon. The Hornets host nationally-ranked Fort Hays State on Thursday night in a game pushed back a day due to the winter storm.