November 28, 2003

Women’s Basketball Wins Home Opener

Modlin Leads Lopers Again

            Kearney, NE – Sophomore center Kalee Modlin had 24 points, two shy of her career high, to lead the 23^rd-ranked Nebraska-Kearney women’s basketball team to a 90-80 win over Winona State (Minn.) Saturday night at the Health & Sports Center. The home opener for the Lopers, the game is part of the UNK Thanksgiving Holiday Inn/Captain’s Table Classic.

            In the early contest, Northern State (S.D.) defeated Colorado State-Pueblo, 73-65

            UNK (2-1) led for the last 37 minutes of the game but never really shook the Warriors (3-2). A layup by senior Heather Steffen gave the Lopers its biggest lead of the night, 71-56, at the 6:31 mark. However, WSU cut the lead to eight points, 75-67, just two minutes later after Jenny Johnson hit a three pointer.

            UNK, which sunk 25 of 32 free throws in the second half, scored four straight points at the charity stripe and Winona never got the Loper lead under 10 points the rest of the night.

            Modlin, who played 25 minutes, missed only three shots from the floor (8-11) and was a perfect 8 for 8 at the free throw line to amass her 24 points. Junior Taryn Ninemire made six of her last nine shots to finish with 17 points while Steffen had 10 points and six rebounds in the second half. She finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds.

            With senior Allison Kruger missing most of the second half with a minor injury, North Platte sophomore Anne Manning came off the bench to tally 12 points on five of seven shooting.

            In a very even game, UNK’s big advantage came in field goal percentage as the Lopers made 53.7 of its shots while the Warriors were at 45.5 percent.

            Three players were in double figures for Winona, led by Heather Peterson with 23.

            UNK plays Northern State tomorrow night at seven while CSUP and WSU tip off at 5:00 p.m.