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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2002
Last Second Shots Don't Fall
Denver, Colo. - The Nebraska-Kearney basketball teams lost a pair of close games in the RMAC Tournament finals Saturday night in Denver. Both teams missed last second shots that could've won or tied the games. The top seeded men fell to Fort Lewis, 72-71 in overtime, while top seeded Mesa State rallied past the women, 67-63. Both teams should still make the NCAA Tournament, which will be announced Sunday night.
The loss for the women (23-6) snaps their three year reign as league champs. Their last loss in the RMAC tourney came to Mesa in the 1998 semifinals. The men (24-5) are now 1-4 in RMAC tournament finals..
In the late game, UNK outscored Fort Lewis 17-4 over the final seven minutes to force OT. The Lopers almost didn’t reach the extra period as Nick Svehla was charged with a foul contesting a last second shot. After a lengthy conference, the officials decided there was no foul and the game went into the extra session.
UNK, with possession of the ball, led 71-67 with 28 seconds left. However, FLC forced a jump ball and Kevin Hatch nailed a three with 18 seconds remaining. After Svehla missed a one and one with 14 seconds left, Hatch hit a baseline jumper with 4.8 ticks remaining. The Lopers moved the ball quickly up the court and Chad Sheffield found Richard Dionne in the corer for a three. His shot was just short as the buzzer sounded.
The nation’s top shooting team had one of its coldest shooting nights of the year (38.4) including a 7 of 32 effort from the three point line. Svehla, who joined Anthony Harms on the all-tourney team, led the way with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Dionne and Nick Branting each had 14 while Sheffield had nine points and four rebounds off the bench.
The women’s game was equally as exciting but the result was the same for UNK fans. Mesa ended a five game losing streak to UNK thanks to the clutch shooting of tourney MVP Kelli O’Dwyer (25 points). She scored 10 over the final 7:28 to lead Mesa to its first out right title since 1990. The Mavs (26-3) should also host the first round of the NCAA’s next week, the first time since 1988 the North Central regional will be held outside North Dakota.
Three straight Beth Swift threes gave the Lopers a 54-47 lead with 8:30 remaining. Two O’Dwyer free throws started the Mavs comeback and it was 55 all at the 6:13 mark. UNK grabbed its final lead, 62-61, after a Dawn Schreiber free throw with 1:38 remaining.
Back-to-back buckets by O’Dwyer put Mesa up 65-62 with 50 seconds left. Down 65-63 with 14 seconds left, a Swift runner in the lane that could've tied the game was blocked by Lindsay Sundloff. Mesa hit two free throws to finish the game.
Swift had 22 points on five threes while Heather Steffen recorded her ninth double double of the year (14 points, 12 rebounds). The West Point sophomore set a new school record with her eighth rebound of the game. It helped her break Ginger Keller's single season rebounding record of 264, set during the 1993-94 season. Steffen now has 270 caroms this year.
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Contact:
Peter Yazvac
yazvacpa@unk.edu |
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© 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
University of Nebraska at Kearney
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