December 20, 2003

Big Second Half Sparks Women’s Basketball

Lopers Beat UNO Again

Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney women’s basketball team shot 63 percent in the second half to pull away from the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks and cruise to an 80-58 win in Omaha Saturday night.

It was the Lopers (7-2), winners of five straight, final non-conference game of the year. UNO (2-8) has dropped seven straight games and also lost 11 of the last 12 meetings with UNK.

The blue and gold got out to a 25-14 lead midway through the first half but the Mavs came back and had the Loper lead down  to just five, 33-28, at the 1:35 mark. That’s when the Lopers made their move.

UNK scored the final six points of the first half and then opened the second half on an 11-4 run to lead by 18 points, 50-32, with 17:14 to play. UNO wouldn’t get closer than 16 points the rest of the night.

Besides sinking 17 of 27 shots after the break, UNK out rebounded the Mavs by 11, 42-31, and tallied 27 points off 24 UNO turnovers.

Sophomore center Kalee Modlin hit eight of nine shots in the second half to tally 16 of her team-high 20 points. She also pulled down seven rebounds and had four assists and three steals.

Three others were in double figures, including sophomore reserve Anne Manning who had 11 of her 17 points in the first half. As usually, the southpaw was solid from the field (7 of 10).

Senior Allison Kruger had a team-high eight rebounds to go with her 12 points while fellow senior Heather Steffen had 10 points, six boards and four assists. The West Point native is four steals shy of 200 for her career and 34 points shy of reaching 1,000 in her career

Four starters were in double digits for UNO, led by Lindsey Petesen with 15.

UNK is off until January 2^nd when Colorado State-Pueblo comes to town.