Kearney, Neb. – Redshirt junior wing Meg Burns knocked down a buzzer beating top-of-the-key three pointer to force overtime, but Fort Hays State got 26 points from redshirt junior wing Katie Wanger and 18 points from 6-3 redshirt junior post Oliva Hollenbeck to beat the Lopers, 74-64, Friday night in Kansas.
“I thought we played pretty well. It’s hard when you have to battle back against the third ranked team in the region,” said UNK head coach Drew Johnson on the KRVN Radio post-game show. “We had a couple of good individual performances and will live with the effort we saw tonight. That’s the kind of fight we need heading into the postseason.”
This was the final regular season game for both squads. UNK (18-10, 12-10) will be the seventh-seed in the MIAA Tournament and face Washburn Wednesday (March 6) at 2:15 p.m. in a first-round game. The Tigers (22-6, 16-6), meanwhile, keep their NCAA Tourney hopes alive and won’t play in the MIAA’s until Friday. The complete bracket will be released Saturday night at the end of the regular season.
UNK led 17-8 after the opening quarter but stalled after that. The Tigers, mainly behind Wagner, came back over the second and third quarters to lead by as many as seven points. The Lopers trailed 57-51 with just over three minutes left before going on a 7-2 run. The spurt ended with a bucket by grad forward Shiloh McCool (Pleasant Hill, Ia.) with 12 seconds left to make it 59-58.
Hays knocked down the subsequent freebies but, after a timeout, UNK turned to Burns (Ankeny, Ia.) to force extra time. Well-guarded, she hit a three from the top-of-the key to knot things a 61. However, FHSU controlled the next five minutes with a trey from redshirt junior Sydney Golladay at 4:04 starting a game-ending 13-3 run.
“Big time shot from a big-time player, and we did a great job of executing the play. Tried to get a little pinch-post action there,” said Johnson. “We’ve asked Meg to be more aggressive from three and there’s no doubt over the last three games she’s done that.”
Wagner carried the load for her team early on and reached her game-high point total by making 10 of 22 (2 of 5 threes) shots. She also drew seven fouls, had six boards and three assists over 43 minutes. Next, Hollenbeck warmed up in the fourth quarter and had 18 points thanks to 7 of 12 (4 of 4 freebies) shooting. She also had six boards and a block. Finally, senior forward Jessie Sallach had 12 points off the bench thanks to two triples. Hays finished 6 of 14 from downtown and overcame a 50-35 rebounding disadvantage by forcing 22 turnovers. That is the third highest total for UNK this winter.
“Potentially, we could see them in the second-round of the conference tournament. We tried not to do anything crazy tonight,” said Johnson. “We may have to bring some additional help (on Golladay) but she’s a good player.”
Burns and McCool had 17 apiece to lead UNK with Lincoln freshman reserve Brinly Christensen at 11 points, three boards and two assists. Net, McCool had 17 rebounds, two off her own school-record, with redshirt senior Trinity Law (Brandon, S.D.) returning to the court for the first time since early January. Finally, this marks McCool’s 33rd career double double, second most in school history.
Lopers lose in overtime at Hays
