UNK women use height avantage to slip past Missouri Western

KEARNEY In the end, height prevailed.

Working the ball inside to 6-foot-1 post player Kia Wilson, the University of Nebraska at Kearney women found the key to beating Missouri Western 73-65 Saturday afternoon at the UNK Health and Sports Center.

I've gotten a chance to watch her put defenders on her high side and throw the lob since she was in about eighth grade, UNK coach Drew Johnson said.

I thought we did a great job of finding different angles to pass it to her at and she did a great job.

Wilson scored 12 of her team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter as UNK turned a 48-47 deficit into an eight-point victory.

The Lopers (13-3 overall, 6-1 MIAA) took advantage of three areas, outscoring the Griffons by eight in nthe paint and on secod-chance baskets and off the bench.

Alex Flattery and Jordan Sears came off the bench to score seven points each and Bailee Sobczak, Wilsons back-up in the post, had another four points.

Johnson said he thought Sears grew up tonight.

...

She was awesome in the second half.

Flattery came in and did a lot of good things on both ends of court.

...

Her minutes were huge, and she really did a great job on (Alyssa) Bonilla.

(Bonilla) got a couple buckets late.

I know Alex would have loved to get stops, but she is so good.

Bonilla, a 5-4 senior point guard, is the second-leading scorer in the MIAA.

She scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with 25.

But she coudnt get the Griffons (11-5, 6-2) over the top.

Bonilla is as good as it gets to the ball in her hands in our league.

She is an electric downhill, uh, really, really talented basketball player, Johnson said.

Missouri Western has built its game around the 3-point shot, ranking among the national leaders in attempts, makes and shooting percentage.

They made 9 of 28 in the game and were out-performed by the Lopers, who were 9 of 23.

Jillian Achoff and Meg Burns made three each with Aschoff finishing with 16 points and Burns 13.

Aschoff also had 11 rebounds to complete a double-double.

We've had a couple halftime deficits here recently and weve found a way in the second half to be better than the scouting report.

...

It's not that they're not going hit threes, I think they're a team that shoots a lot of them.

We felt like we gave them too many open ones in the first half, but wwe did a much better job of rotating and a much better job of understanding where to come for help, Johnson said.

UNK will play its next four games on the road before returning home to play new conference member Arkansas-Fort Smith on Feb.

6.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!.

This article has been shared from the original article on kearneyhub, here is the link to the original article.