March 14, 2008

Women's Basketball Advances in NCAA Tournament

Meads Joins 500 Club; Lopers 6th NCAA Win           

     Kearney, Neb. – Junior Jade Meads scored a game-high 25 points and senior Amy Mathis had her 10^th double double of the year to lead the Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team to a 66-58 win over Fort Lewis late Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Vermillion, S.D.

      UNK (27-6) advances in the North Central Regional and will play top-seed South Dakota tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. The Coyotes moved to 29-1 on the year with a 66-55 win over RMAC-member Colorado State-Pueblo.

      On the other side of the bracket, 6^th-seed Minnesota State and 7^th-seed Wayne State pulled off upsets and will meet in the other second round game.

      The first round of the NCAA's was full of upsets as No. 1 seeds Indiana of Pennsylvania (East) and West Texas A& M (South Central) were beaten Friday. WTAMU lost on a 40 foot shot at the buzzer to NW Missouri State, 72-71.

      In a game the featured a combined 48 turnovers, UNK held Fort Lewis (26-4) to 31.7 percent shooting (19 of 60) to win its third NCAA game in the last year. Prior to this run, UNK was 2-10 in NCAA play.

      Leading most of the night, the Lopers shot 45 percent from the floor (22 of 49) and out scored the 'Hawks 32-18 in the lane.

      Against a press, Meads (Elm Creek) got loose several times and managed to hit 9 of 14 shots. She also was 6 of 6 at the line and grabbed four offensive rebounds.

      With her strong offensive effort tonight, Meads becomes the seventh Loper to tally 500 points in a single season. Currently with 515 points, Meads saw Mathis (582) reach the mark earlier this season.

      Mathis (Millard North) had a 13 point second half to finish with 16 and 10 rebounds. Going 3 of 7 from the three point line, she moved over 1,500 career points (1,511) in the process.

      UNK led 10-3 four minutes into the game but the 'Hawks hit five three pointers and forced four turnovers to lead 24-20 by the 8:30 mark. The Lopers came back to score the next seven points, including five straight from Meads, then neither club scored the final 6:04 of the first half.

      Trailing only briefly in the second half, UNK didn't pull away from Fort Lewis until late. A layup by reserve Megan Becker (Southern Valley) opened up a six point cushion, 44-38, with 9:21 to play but it was just a three point game a minute later.

      An 8-0 UNK run, featuring two threes by Mathis, made it an 11 point lead, 52-41, by the seven minute mark and the 'Hawks never got the deficit under three the rest of the night.

      With 45 seconds left, Meads did take a pass from a driving Melissa Hinkley to stop a mini-Fort Lewis run and get the lead back to five.

      Becker, having eight points in 11 minutes, was big off the pine and the only other Loper besides Meads and Mathis to score more then six.

      Laura Haugen (16) and Katie Mackey (13 points, 10 rebounds) led Fort Lewis. Reserve Allison Rosel, one of the nation's leading shooters at nearly 70 percent, was held to six points on 1 of 5 shooting.

      Pictured below are Mathis-Hinkley-Meads-Mildenberger.