March 3, 2004

Women Rout Hays Again

Lopers to Play Regis Next

            Kearney, NE – The Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team continued several streaks in a 98-68 rout of Fort Hays State in the first round of the RMAC Tournament Wednesday night at the Health & Sports Center.

            The top seed in the tournament, UNK (23-5) will play 4^th-seeded Regis (20-8) Saturday at noon CST in Colorado Springs. The Rangers beat 5^th-seeded Mesa State, 82-58, tonight in Denver.

            UNK is now a perfect 10-0 in RMAC first round games and pushes its all-time RMAC tournament record to a stellar 22-4. The Lopers have also beaten the rival Tigers 15 straight times in Kearney with a majority of those coming by 15 points or more.

            A 16-2 run early in the first half gave UNK a commanding 27-8 lead and the Tigers never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way. During the key run, five different Lopers made at least one shot from the floor.

            Hays out scored UNK 49-45 in the second half but they shot just 26.5 percent (9 of 34) from the field over the first 20 minutes.

            All eight Lopers who suited up scored in the first half with five reaching double figures by game's end. Seniors Allison Kruger (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Heather Steffen (11 points, 11 rebounds) each recorded double doubles in their final home game.

            Steffen, from West Point, also got close to a triple double as she has team-high eight assists. And with her big rebounding night, she needs just 12 more to break Ginger Keller's career record of 894.

            With tonight's effort, Kruger moved into third place on the UNK career-scoring list (1,653). Only Jessica Kedrowski (1,682) and Keller (1,895) are ahead of Kruger.

            Iowa sophomore center Kalee Modlin had 13 of her team-high 21 points in the first half while Fairifeld junior Taryn Ninemire had 14 of her 20 points in the second half. Ninemire was also a perfect 8 of 8 from the floor. 

            Finally, North Platte sophomore Anne Manning (12) was the other Loper in double figures.

            Anna Platz (13) was one of three Tigers in double figures.