December 18, 2004

Basketball Dominates Western State

Mountaineers Continue Struggles Vs. Lopers

Kearney, NE —The Nebraska-Kearney basketball teams had little trouble Friday night in Gunnison, Colo., vs. the Western State Mountaineers.

            Junior forward Chris Dean had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the men’s team to an 83-64 victory while juniors Kalee Modlin and Erin Jones each tallied 15 points to lead the Loper women to an 86-68 victory.

            The men have won six in a row after dropping its first two games of the season. The Loper women have won two in a row to improve to 3-6 on the year.

            On the other side of the court, the Western men (0-8) have dropped 26 in a row, dating back to December of 2003, while the Mountainner women (3-7, 0-3 RMAC) are now 0-12 all-time vs. the Lopers.  

            In the men’s contest, the Lopers led from start to finish and had a plus 18 advantage, 45-27, on the glass.

            An 11-0 spurt midway through the first half gave UNK a 24-9 lead and Western didn’t get closer then 12 points the rest of the night.

            Utah senior Will Taukiuvea had a season-high 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the floor while Columbus southpaw Dusty Jura had 12 points and six boards.

            Also, freshmen Nick Morrell (Ogallala) led the bench corps with a season-best 14 points. He was 4 of 7 from the floor, including a 3 of 3 effort from behind the three point line.

            Fourteen different Western players took to the court with Dusty Axtell (13 points) being the only one to reach double digits.

            Earlier that night, the UNK women took control of things with a 12-0 run in the first half. Down 13-10 with 13:47 to play in the first half, the run gave UNK a nine point advantage.

            While Western got within five points, 26-21, by the six minute mark, the Lopers were never seriously threanted after the key run.

            UNK shot a season-high 57 percent from the floor, including a 74 percent effort (20 of 27) after the break.

            The Lopers also had a season-low 15 turnovers.

            Modlin was 7 of 8 from the field while Jones made two of the team’s three triples.

            Three others were in double figures, including Lincoln freshman Melissa Hinkley (14). Finally, senior center Jenny Brown (Plesanton) made her Loper debut. In 13 minutes, she had two points and a rebound.

            The Oklahoma State transfer missed all last year with a broken hand and then broke some bones in her foot this past August in a pickup game.

             Freshman Stephanie Coleman went 10 of 11 from the field to score 23 points to lead Western.