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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2002
Gitt Joins 1,000 Club; Steffen Nears Rebounding Mark
Denver, Colo. - For the second straight season the Nebraska-Kearney basketball teams have advanced to the finals of the RMAC Tournament. This afternoon at the University of Denver, the Loper men (24-4) won another thriller over Fort Hays State, 94-86, while the women held on for a 65-57 win over Regis.
The women (23-5) will play top-seeded Mesa State tomorrow for the title, the same matchup as last year’s final. The men will play either Metro State or Fort Lewis. The women have won five of the last six titlees while the men will be making their fifth final apperance. UNK won its only title in 1998.
In the men’s game, UNK got outstanding play from its reserves and finally had enough to put the Tigers away for the third time this year. Four starters were in double figures with Anthony Harms and Nick Svehla leading the way with 16 a piece. The bench tallied 28 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. Mike Gitt came off the bench to tally 12 points and grab eight rebounds. His 11th point put him at 1,000 for his career. He joins Harms and Svehla as current Lopers in the prestigious club.
UNK trailed most of the first half but took the lead for good when Gitt tipped in a shot right before the halftime buzzer sounded. The Lopers stretched the lead to nine, 65-56, with 11:27 to play after an “old fashioned” three point play by Svehla. The Omaha native, who fouled out late in the game, had 12 points in the second half.
Hays, which shot 56 percent for the game, never led let the game get into double figures and trailed by just four, 85-81, with 46 seconds left. Chad Sheffield made sure Hays didn’t get any closer when he stole the ball with 30 seconds left and found Harms for an easy layup, putting the Lopers ahead 86-81. UNK then made four straight free throws to put the Tigers (21-8) away for good.
Ike Smith led Hays with 25 points, 13 of that coming at the free throw line.
In the late game, UNK dominated the first 30 minutes, leading 47-21 with around 14 minutes to play. Regis went on a 22-8 run over the next eight minutes to trail by 11, 54-43, with 6:00 minutes to play. The lead was down to just four points, 57-53 with 1:40 remaining. An Anny Burdorf steal led to two Beth Swift free throws that put UNK ahead 59-53 with 42 seconds left. Regis again cut it to four, 59-55, but Swift made four straight free throws to finally end the comeback.
Swift made all 11 free throws she attempeted and finished wiht a game high 20 points. Heather Steffen had her eighth double double (14 pts., 13 rebs.) of the year and Burdorf (13 pts., 5 rebs.) was strong off the bench. Steffen is now at 257 rebounds for the season; the school record is 264 set by Ginger Keller in 1993-94.
Regis was led by its best player, Molly Marrin (14 pts., four assists, four rebounds, three steals).
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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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