KEARNEY, Neb. - The Fort Hays State women's basketball team built a 21-point third quarter lead then held off a furious Nebraska-Kearney comeback and beat the Lopers 61-49 Thursday night at the Health and Sports Center to move within a game in the loss column of the conference leaders
The Tigers (10-2, 10-2 MIAA) led for all but 2 1/2 minutes and only trailed once at 7-6. That's when they went on a 28-10 run and built a 17-point lead with 3:50 to play in the second quarter.
They pushed the lead to 21 three minutes into the third quarter but the Lopers, who are ranked fourth in this week's Division II media poll, ended the period on a 17-3 run to pull within seven.
UNK (12-1, 12-1 MIAA) got as close as six with 8:35 to play but the Tigers answered with a 12-1 run capped by a Madison Mittie 3-pointer with 5:15 to play which made the score 59-41..
Kearney scored the next six but could never get closer than 11 the rest of the way.
The Tigers turned in the best offensive performance the Lopers have allowed this season, scoring 61 points on 46.2 percent shooting (24-of-52) and 53.8 percent from behind the arc (7-of-13), all of which are season-highs for UNK opponents.
Jaden Hobbs led the Tigers with 16 points and six assists after hitting both of her attempts from behind the arc. Whitney Randall added 13 points and three steals while Cydney Bergmann grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds alongside six points and one steal.
Freshman Emma Ruddle scored a career-high seven points, all of them in the second quarter and grabbed four rebounds.
The Tigers outrebounded the Lopers by three, 37-34, just the second time UNK has been outrebounded this season. Fort Hays State forced 12 turnovers, scoring 14 points off those miscues.
FHSU held the Lopers to a 35.2 percent effort from the floor (19-of-54), 27.3 percent from deep (6-of-22) and 35.7 percent from the line (5-of-14).
The Tigers and Lopers will turn around and play again in less than 48 hours when they face off inside Gross Memorial Coliseum on Saturday ) beginning at 2 p.m. Another win for the Tigers would push FHSU into a virtual tie for first place in the MIAA with just four weeks remaining in the regular season.