January 30, 2004

Women's Basketball Wins by 40

Kalee Modlin Returns

            Kearney, NE – Bolstered by the return of leading scorer and rebounder Kalee Moldin, the Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team breezed to an 86-46 victory over winless Colorado Christian Friday night in Lakewood, Colo.

            UNK is 15-3 on the year (9-1 RMAC) while the Cougars fall to 0-17 (0-10 RMAC).

            A sophomore center from Iowa, Modlin had been sidelined since January 10^th due to a back problem. Her return helped offset the loss of sophomore guard Nicole Grunotrad, who is out at least a week with a knee injury.

             With the recent addition of junior Brooke Epley, who is on the softball team, the Lopers dressed seven players last night. 

            Fairfield junior Taryn Ninemire made six threes, tying her career-high, to score a team-best 22 points. The six triples put her career total at an even 200, 47 shy of the Lopers all-time leader, Beth Swift.

            Ninemire also is just 10 points shy of 1,000 for her career. She will be the 14^th player in school history to reach that figure.

            Also, North Platte forward Anne Manning had 17 points while Modlin and senior Allison Kruger each netted 12 points a piece. Modlin who also grabbed eight rebounds, played 21 minutes off the bench.

            With her effort last night, Kruger vaults from sixth to fourth on the UNK career scoring list. She is at 1,512 career points and is one of only six Lopers to ever reach the 1,500-point milestone.

            CCU held an early 5-4 lead but the Loper out scored the Cougars 42-9 over the final 17 minutes of the first half. UNK held CCU to just 17.4 percent shooting (4 of 23) from the field over the first 20 minutes.

            Things didn't get any better in the second half for the Cougars as they shot just 33 percent from the floor to end at 26 percent (14 of 53) for the night.

            Once again, the Lopers were dominant on the glass, out rebounding Christina 45-28. Chadron redshirt freshman center Mary Connealy UNK with nine rebounds while Manning and senior Heather Steffen each grabbed seven.

            UNK plays at Colorado School of Mines tonight at 7:00 p.m. CST.