Lopers Have Two Late Offensive Turnovers; Two Tough Home Games Up Next
Kearney, Neb. – The 11th-ranked Central Missouri Jennies had four starters score in double figures and tallied the final five points to edge No. 26 Nebraska Kearney, 55-50, Monday night in Warrensburg.
UCM (11-0, 7-0) remains perfect and records its second straight last second win as they edged No. 29 Fort Hays State, 63-62, on Saturday afternoon. The Lopers (13-3, 6-2) have now lost three games by a combined 14 points and fall to 2-13 all-time against the Jens.
“I thought we competed and the effort was there but I don’t know if we always executed,” said Loper assistant coach Devin Eighmey on the KRVN radio post-game show. “Nine of their first 17 points came via transition … it took us a little bit to get used to the speed, coming off the Lincoln game.”
UNK out shot UCM by two percentage points, 39-37, with both teams grabbing 38 rebounds. Both also struggled a bit at the line, the Lopers finishing 3 of 9 and the Jens 12 of 19 with several of those misses coming in the waning seconds. Finally, the Blue & Gold committed 15 turnovers, its second highest tally of the winter.
“They have good length, size and are pretty stout (in the paint) but we missed some (first half) bunnies that were open,” said Eighmey. “We had no awareness late in the third (UCM hit a fast-break, buzzer beating layup). In games that are big you’ve got to have awareness of time, score and situation.”
Trailing for most of the night but never by more than eight points, UNK tied things up at 50 with 1:25 left after a paint bucket from forward Shiloh McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) and a transition corner three from guard Trinity Law (Brandon, SD).
UCM hit 1 of 2 freebies on its next possession and then drew a charge as the shot clock was winding down for the Lopers. All-American Brooke Littrell, an 85% free throw shooter, went 1 of 2 at the line but UNK again had an empty possession as the ball bounced off a shoe on a baseline drive. That miscue came with 13 seconds left.
“We had a chance with the ball down one. Went to an action that had been really helpful for us,” said Eighmey. “It’s a game of a shot here and a shot there. Just didn’t happen for us.”
The Lopers still had a chance as Littrell again went 1 of 2 at the stripe but she rebounded the miss, leading to another free throw. Down 54-50, UNK could’ve cut into the deficit but a wing three hit iron.
“We fought back there but they do a really good job defensively,” said Eighmey. “It’s not just the end. You’ve got be focused for 40 minutes to beat a Top 10 team. You’ve got to be good for the whole game and we were probably at 30, 32 minutes tonight.”
Littrell hit four shots and four freebies to score 13 while also having a game-high 13 rebounds. Next, All-MIAA guard Olivia Nelson went 6 of 13 from the floor to tally 13 with sophomore guard Lauren Frost being a pain early and ending up at 10 points, five defensive caroms, three assists and two steals.
“Early on the pressure bothered us and we had nine turnovers in the first half. Some of them were us pushing in transition and not making great decisions,” said Eighmey. “I also thought we were pressing a bit in the first half and missed reads throughout the game.”
McCool (10) and Kansas super senior forward Elisa Backes (15) combined for 25 points and made 10 of UNK’s 22 shots. The pair also combined for nine boards with Backes swatting three shots. Next, Law had nine points and six rebounds with Elkhorn super senior post Brooke Carlson at eight points and four rebounds off the bench.
Things don’t get any easier for UNK as Pittsburg State (10-3, 5-2) and No. 9 Missouri Southern (12-2, 4-2) come to down this weekend. Pitt went 12 of 22 from behind the arc tonight in Joplin to down the rival Lions, 87-79.
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