TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State women's basketball (5-13 in MIAA) held a two-point advantage at halftime but No. 15 Nebraska-Kearney (15-3 in MIAA) executed its MIAA-leading defense in the second half for a 77-57 victory in Tahlequah Thursday night.
The RiverHawks battled back from an early 11-point deficit but could not find the answer in a second half that they were outscored 44-23. Senior
Cenia Hayes led NSU with 21 points and sophomore
Britney Ho and junior
Kiarra Brooks added nine each off the bench. Sophomore
Zaria Collins did not reach double-figure scoring for the second-straight game finishing with eight points and led the team with eight rebounds.
"Cenia is looking a lot back like herself and she played hard on both ends tonight," head coach
Fala Bullock said. "She had the tough task of trying to defend Backes who has [four] inches on her, she did her thing we just needed some help from others tonight."
The Lopers executed the defense that has earned them national rankings holding NSU scoreless until junior
Maegan Lee hit a 3-pointer to stop the 7-0 run. The RiverHawks continued to battle but the Lopers shot 61.5 percent in the first quarter. NSU made a 5-0 run to close the stanza down eight via a Brooks and-1 followed by Collins grabbing an offensive rebound who then twisted in the paint to lay it in. NSU had nine offensive rebounds in the first half including seven in the second stanza.
It figured out the Lopers defense in the second quarter winning the quarter 23-13 and got to the free throw line nine times. Sophomore
Tess Talo Tomokino, who earned her first start in seven games, got the RiverHawks within one possession with 6:45 left amidst an 8-0 run.
The RiverHawks continued to stick around but couldn't overtake the Lopers until Brooks drove through the paint for a tough-angled lay in with 29 seconds until halftime. Nebraska-Kearney responded on the other to give NSU less than four seconds to run the length of the court before halftime. That was no problem for Hayes though, who had 11 points in the stanza, as she tossed up a one-handed 3-pointer from the right corner as time expired to put the RiverHawks up 34-32.
"In the second quarter we took great care of the ball and had lots of energy going into the offense and we were getting stops defensively," Bullock said. "Their big girls we were handling and in the second half they really dominated the paint on us and we made some mistakes.
Nebraska-Kearney, which was outrebounded 21-13 in the opening 20 minutes, used their length to control the paint where they held a 10-point advantage for the game. They pulled ahead at the 7:23 mark in the third quarter and did not look back upon pulling down five offensive boards in the stanza. The Lopers outscored the RiverHawks by 19 in the final 20 minutes. Hayes scored 10 more points to her team-high after halftime while UNK held the rest of the roster in check.
"In the second half we just kind of fell out of rhythm," Bullock said.
The Lopers were led by Elissa Backes with 28 points on 12-17 shooting and five steals. She was joined in double figures by Brooke Carlson with 14, Haley Simental with 11 and Klaire Kirsch added 10. UNK shot 56.9 percent from the floor and had 26 points off turnovers.
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The RiverHawks' next opponent is the lone team to beat the Lopers this season. NSU welcomes Fort Hays State to the Event Center Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
 NOTES
The RiverHawks had 14 second chance points…The Lopers had 26 points off turnovers…NSU had just five assists in the game…Combined the teams shot 14.3 percent from 3-point distance…Fifth-straight 10-plus scoring outing for Hayes…The RiverHawks had 18 turnovers and forced 14…NSU is now 3-6 on Saturday's in 2020-21...UNK has won the last 15 matchups...NSU wore its road black uniforms at home for first time this season.
