UNK WBB: Short-Handed Loeprs Win at Rogers, 65-5

Redshirt sophomore reserve post Bailee Sobczak scored a game-high 19 points and Nebraska Kearney closed the first half on a 14-0 run to down Rogers State, 65-52, Saturday afternoon in Claremore, Okla.

The Lopers (15-3, 8-1) win a sixth straight game, hand the Hillcats (7-12, 1-9) a sixth straight loss and now lead the all-time series, 9-0. This was the only meeting between the two this year.

Improving to 6-2 in true road games, UNK had to overcome the loss of starting wing Meg Burns (illness) and reserve point guard Saniya Simmons (injury).  The Lopers, who are redshirting four, thus dressed just eight players with point guard Jillian Aschoff (Lincoln Pius) playing every minute.

"Saniya will be fine by Thursday but was a little sore today. She was suited and could've gone in had we absolutely needed her to," said UNK head coach Drew Johnson on the KRVN Radio post-game show. "Big-time minutes from Jordan (Sears) and Alex (Flattery) and everyone had to step up."

Things didn't start well as the hosts jumped out to a 12-4 lead. UNK missed nine of its first 10 shots but trailed by only five at the end of one. They then started to warm up, culminating with that half closing spurt that featured threes from Aschoff and Samantha Moore (Mullen) and four points from Sobczak (Rapid City, S.D.). The run made it 31-21 and UNK didn't look back.

"Credit to our kids; they didn't make me take a timeout too early. Got a chance to settle in and when we did, we really settled in," said Johnson. "It was going to be a physical, physical battle. It's just how they play."

Going just 3 of 14 from behind the arc, Rogers never made a serious run in the second half. They got within five early through the third quarter, but the Loper lead ballooned to double digits minutes later. In the fourth, head coach Heather Davis was hit with a technical foul and UNK went 8 of 16 from the field.

"We had to figure out how to play against different posts. When you don't see everyone a ton, because of the North and South divisions, our fives at the start of the game had some turnovers and not a lot of points," said Johnson. "You look down at the stat sheet at the end and Bailee is 7 of 10 and Kia (Wilson) 4 of 6."

Sobczak was 7 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 at the line to fall four points shy of her career high. She also had eight rebounds in just 18 minutes of work. Next, Aschoff had 12 points, six assists, four caroms and a steal with everyone else between three and nine points. That included Moore (eight) who also made two of UNK's six threes and was one of three Lopers with five boards.

Rogers was paced by freshman guard Kate Melton (15 points, six rebounds) with leading scorer Elle Hafer (13.6) going 2 of 10 from the field.

"Brinly (Christensen) might be the most important player right now because she's so versatile defensively. She's able to guard anyone on the floor," said Johnson. 

UNK heads to Central Missouri (12-9, 4-6) and Washburn (11-9, 5-5) next week.