Story by UNK Athletic Communications
The 26th/30th-ranked Nebraska Kearney women's basketball team got a double double from forward Shiloh McCool and shot 49 percent from the field dominate Central Oklahoma, 73-52, Sunday evening at Buckle Court.
UNK enters Winter Break at 12-2 (5-1) while UCO, under the direction of a new head coach, falls to 4-6 (1-5). These two teams will meet in Edmond on February 2nd.
"We're in a good place. I've said this multiple times but I'll keeping saying it; defensively we've been really consistent. The whole first semester we've shown we can get stops when we need to and make it tough for the other team," said UNK head coach Carrie Eighmey. "Offensively I like what we're doing. We're continuing to spread it around and different people are having big games on different days."
The Lopers started Friday night with an 8-0 run against Newman and jumped on the 'Chos by an 8-2 margin today. UNK cooled off against Newman but that wasn't the case today as they tallied at least 14 points in each quarter, went 29 of 59 from the field and led by as many as 27 points.
McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) went for a career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds with many of her paint buckets coming off passes from forward Elisa Backes (Salina, Kan.) who was in the high post. McCool finished 10 of 12 from the field with Backes at a career-best 10 assists.
"Elisa was doing a great job of finding the open player and it was big to have Klaire hit some perimeter shots (3 of 5 threes) when they went zone. It's important to have somebody out there that can stretch the zone," said Eighmey. "Shiloh did a great job finishing around the rim and attacking."
UCO didn't find an offense rhythm until a 21-point fourth quarter. Forward Alayzha Knapp (18) and guards Brooke Rayner (15) and Aliyah Llanusa (13) reached double figures but both Knapp and Rayer did their damage in the final 10 minutes.
"In the second half we did a good job of coming out and getting what we wanted instead of taking shots they were allowing us to take," said Eighmey. "Really good execution offensively."
UNK held a double-digit lead for the last 26 minutes as they were plus 12 on the glass, plus 22 in paint points and plus nine in second chance points. After grabbing 14 o-boards against Newman, the Lopers pulled down 10 today.
Besides McCool's heroics, South Dakota super senior wing Klaire Kirsch was at 19 points, eight rebounds and two steals, Backes blocked three shots in addition to her passing with Iowa redshirt junior point guard Sarah Schmitt at 13 points, five boards and two dimes. Off the bench, Iowa wing Meg Burns had another productive outing; 10 points, two boards and an assist.
UNK returns to the court on December 28th in preparation for road games at Lincoln (Dec. 31) and Central Missouri (Jan. 2). UCM is now 8-0 overall and 5-0 in MIAA play.