Story by UNK Athletic Communications
Kearney, Neb. – Junior forward Kelsey Fields had 19 points and 14 rebounds to help Northwest Missouri State shackle Nebraska-Kearney, 64-42, Thursday afternoon in a MIAA Tournament quarterfinal game in Kansas City. The second-seeded Bearcats (23-6) advance to Saturday's semifinals and are in good shape to make the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, the seventh-seeded Lopers end up at 19-11 and are now 9-10 all-time in the MIAA Tourney. UNK beat Northwest in this tournament each of the past two seasons and had taken 14 of the last 17 matchups between the two. While the Lopers got out to a 4-0 lead in what was a defensive struggle throughout, they never led again. The Blue & Gold had season-lows in both points and field goals percentage (26.3; 15 of 57) and was out rebounded by six. Meanwhile, Northwest shot a respectable 41% from the field and salted things away with three straight triples in the fourth. "It was a bad day to have a bad day. They guarded us one-on-one, and we just couldn't get by or get downhill. They did a great job of not over helping and making you finish," said UNK head coach Drew Johnson. "We couldn't quite get the ball to fall. I thought we had a couple of punches at them, and we guarded and guarded so it wasn't a defensive thing." Northwest erased that early 4-0 deficit with two threes and then held leads of 16-10 (first quarter), 30-20 (halftime) and 44-32 (end of three). UNK was down 51-38 with 4:39 to play when the 'Cats quickly sank four freebies and those treys. "We tried several different modes but just couldn't quite find it," said Johnson.
Sixth-year senior Shiloh McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) tied the school-record for double doubles (15) and rebounds (284) in a single season after a 22-point, 10 rebounding effort. She was 7 of 20 from the field; the rest of the squad went 8 for 37. All-American Ginger Keller had 15 double doubles back in 1993-94 with All-American Amy Mathis having 284 boards in the 2007-08 campaign. Finally, her 9.46 season rebound averaging is second best in in the annuals and she ends up 11th on the career scoring list (1,498) and second in both rebounds (984) and double doubles (34). Fields, mainly on pick and rolls, was 8 for 10 from the field with six of her rebounds coming on the offensive end. She also drew four fouls and had two blocks over 27 minutes. Next, guard Caely Kesten had 16 points and seven rebounds with All-MIAA guard Molly Hartnett controlling the action with nine points, nine rebounds and five assists. Also for UNK, point guard Jillian Aschoff (Lincoln Pius) finished up with the second most assists (167) and second highest assists per game (5.57) tally for a single season. Inside, redshirt freshman post Bailee Sobczak (Rapid City, S.D.) had 99 offensive rebounds, second most by a Loper. She had a team-best 11 rebounds today (four offensive). "As you try and quickly recap the year, in what was going to be a transition, I'm just so proud of this team. How hard they fought and what the gave every single day," said Johnson. "We asked them to do things counter cultural; buy into something that's not guaranteed success and be willing to invest in that every day for each other. They did that." Besides McCool, UNK says goodbye to fifth-year seniors Trinity Law (Brandon, S.D.) and Lexi Moes (Smithville, Mo.), redshirt junior guard Halle Duft (South Weber, Utah) and forward Dani Winslow (Olathe, Kan.) who medically retired before the year started. Law ends up 42nd on the career scoring list (850). "I've been only around them for the past 10 months but what a special, special group. They did a lot of amazing things in their careers, and you feel grateful to be here. Grateful to get a chance to coach them and invest in their lives," said Johnson. "One of the special things about this team is how much they care about each other and that just doesn't happen overnight."