January 16, 2004

Women’s Basketball Loses in Last Seconds

Lopers Have 28 Turnovers in Loss to UCCS; Modlin Out with Injury

            Kearney, NE – Junior guard Janine Ota hit a three pointer with one second left to lift Colorado-Colorado Springs to a stunning 68-66 victory over Nebraska-Kearney Friday night at the Health & Sports Center.

            UNK (11-3, 5-1 RMAC) had its nine game win streak snapped while the Mountain Lions (4-8) improve to .500 in RMAC play (3-3).

            This is the Lopers second ever RMAC home loss (91-2) and only its fifth home setback since January of  1995 (118-5). Of those five losses, three have come on buzzer beaters.

            UNK played tonight without sophomore center Kalee Modin, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. She is out indefinitely with a back injury. Already this month, UNK lost starting point guard Liz Fischer for the year due to a knee injury.

            UCCS held its biggest lead of the game, 64-56, with 2:31 to go after back-to-back three pointers. UNK furiously rallied, getting a bucket from senior Heather Steffen and two free throws from sophomore Anne Manning to cut led Lions lead to four with a minute to go.

            After a Lions turnover, a three-point play by senior Allison Kruger brought the Lopers within one with 22 seconds to go and then UCCS made one of two free throws to go ahead by two with 15 ticks left.

            Kruger rebounded the miss free throw and was fouled with nine seconds left. She made the first free shot and missed the second but got the offensive rebound and the put back with six seconds showing on the clock. It was the Lopers first lead since early in the second half.

            But, UCCS’ guard B.J. McNeally got down the court and found an open Ota for the winning shot.

            In November, UNK lost to Northern State, 66-65, on a last second layup.

            Even without Modlin, the Lopers dominated the post, out rebounding the Lions, 39-18, and out scoring them 36-6 in the paint. However, UCCS tallied 26 points off 28 Loper turnovers and had only 16 turnovers themselves, including five in the second half.

            The Lions came into the game shooting 26 percent from the three point line but made 13 of 24 triples tonight, including an 8 of 15 effort in the first half that kept them in the game.

            Manning had 19 of her career-high 23 points in the first half while Kruger had six of her 17 points in the final 20 seconds. Steffen (15 points, 12 rebounds) reached a double double thanks to seven points in the final six minutes of the game.

             Meghan McGee paced the Lions with a game high 24 points on 5 of 9 shooting from behind the arc. Jennie Sauter added 17 points on 5o f 8 shooting from the three point line while McNeally added 11 points and seven assists.