UNK WBB: UNK Beats Wayne by 10
Kearney, Neb. – Senior point guard Jillian Aschoff went 14 for 14 at the line, tying a school record, and true freshman Myleigh Weers had a big fourth quarter to help Nebraska Kearney beat Wayne State, 69-59, Saturday afternoon at the Health & Sports Center.
After a nine-day layoff, the Lopers improve to 4-4 while the Wildcats (5-1) suffered their first loss. This was the 73rd all-time meeting between the two with UNK having now won five in a row at home over Wayne.
Aschoff (Lincoln Pius X) missed the last game due to injury, and the Lopers are still minus starting forward Brinly Christensen (Lincoln SW). In the first quarter, UNK made just 3 of 18 shots (17%) but was 8 of 10 at the line to only trail by one. A 24-point second quarter featured six more freebies and eight buckets. Six Lopers had one with sophomore lefty reserve forward Paige Horne (Scottsbluff) making two. Meanwhile, WSC went 9 of 9 at the line but was only 4 of 12 from the field. That allowed UNK to lead 39-33 at the break.
"The way we're playing now, we started two freshmen again, when we try to only grind it out in the halfcourt, we're still learning so much. With that, we've decided as a team we've got to muck it up a little bit," said Loper head coach Drew Johnson. "When we were very shorthanded at Augustana (Nov. 20) we basically mucked it up every possession. In this one, we tried to muck it up in half the possessions. I think it'll be team specific, but we don't feel like we're going to walk in and just guard everyone in the halfcourt for 40 straight minutes like we've done in the past. That's part of the challenge of playing with so many new players."
UNK began the third quarter on an 8-2 run to open its biggest lead to that point at 47-35. The spurt featured back-to-back paint buckets from sophomore reserve forward Tara Biocanin (Serbia). Wayne didn't get closer than five for the rest of the game as the Lopers went 7 for 7 at the line in the fourth quarter with Weers (Diller) having 12 of her 16 points over the final 10 minutes. She had four of UNK's five made buckets in the fourth and went 3 for 3 at the line.
UNK shot just 34% (21 of 62) from the field but was 23 of 28 at the line (82%) and held the 'Cats to 21 of 56 (38%) shooting. That included a 0 for 13 effort from beyond the arc. Finally, the Lopers tallied 23 points off 20 Wayne miscues.
"When we get turnovers, we want to get downhill. Recently, we've turned it over a bunch, but we were much better today in that area," said Johnson. "There was a baseline out of bounds play (in the fourth quarter) where I remember yelling 'Myleigh go get one.' There were seven or seconds left on the shot clock, and we needed a bucket. It was going to be a handoff to her, and we just needed her to go make a play and she did."
Individually, Aschoff finished with 18 points, eight assists, six boards and two steals. UNK's all-time leading scorer, Ginger Keller, went 14 for 14 at the line in a 1993 Nov. win at Angelo (Texas) State. Next, Weers had five of UNK's 13 steals with junior forward Jordan Sears (McPherson, Kan.) at 13 points on four buckets and four freebies. Finally, the bench provided 14 points, 13 rebounds, and two thefts.
Three Wayne starters were in double digits including graduate guard Tenleigh Smith (18) and senior forward Rachael Dahlen (15).
UNK heads to Washburn and Central Missouri next weekend to start league play.