Game #27

RV Nebraska-Kearney (25-3, 14-3 MIAA) at Newman Jets (10-16, 5-12 MIAA)
Thursday, Feb. 27 • 5:30 P.M. Wichita, Kan. • Fugate Gymnasium
Series Record: UNK leads series 3-0 Last Meeting: Feb. 8^th, 2020 NU 46 UNK 59 in Kearney, Neb.
Internet Audio: Newmanjets.com/listen Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com/newman
Up Next: Fort Hays State • Saturday, Feb. 29 • 1:30 P.M. • Wichita, Kan.

LAST TIME OUT
Newman would score the first basket of the game on a Faith Mason-Vestal layup to give the Jets the early lead.  Emporia State (19-6, 12-4) would then follow with a 7-2 run to gain the 7-4 lead with 6:33 left in the first quarter.  A Brooke Haney three would tie the game up at 7 with 5:46 left in the quarter.  ESU would end the quarter on a 14-7 run to take a 21-14 lead after one period of play. In the second quarter, with Emporia State still holding the lead, Newman was able to cut down the deficit and eventually gain a three point lead 33-30 with 1:21 left in the quarter.  Emporia State would hit a jumper with 47 seconds left to make it 33-32 for Newman heading to the intermission.  In the second half, the Hornets would jump out to six point lead before Newman was able to erase that on a quick 7-0 run to take the lead 47-46 with 3:06 left in the third quarter. With both teams tied at 48, Newman would score the final four points of the quarter to take a 52-48 lead heading into the final period of play. With the score 66-66 in the fourth, Emporia State would go to the line with 11 seconds left, they would make 1 of 2 to take a one point advantage. Newman, with no timeouts remaining rushed down the court but Makayla Mack would miss the layup, luckily for the Jets, Madison Birnbaum was there for the rebound which would turn into a jump ball with Newman having the arrow. The officials would go to the monitor to check the clock, this would allow coach Darin Spence to get a play drawn up with no timeouts remaining. With 1.2 seconds on the clock, Newman would inbound the ball and after a nice screen by Potter, Birnbaum would be wide open underneath the basket, where she would finish the layup with .2 seconds left to give the Jets the lead. Emporia State had one more chance as they would advance the ball and try to draw a foul on the inbounds but came away unsuccessful as the Jets would complete the comeback and defeat Emporia State 68-67 in a thriller.

THE COACHES
Darin Spence is in his eighth season as the Jets head coach, leading the Jets to a 10-16 record so far in the 2019-20 season. Spence has compiled a 570-317 record as a head women's basketball coach over a 28-year span across NCAA Division I and Division II, NAIA, and NJCAA schools. His seven years with the Jets have seen him amass a record of 113-97 overall and a 59-53 mark in Heartland Conference play. During Spence's tenure, the Jets reached the Heartland Conference tournament in six of his seven seasons. Before coming to Newman, Spence spent one season at Barton Community College and eight seasons at Division I New Mexico State.

Carrie Eighmey enters her 3^rd season as head coach of the Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball program in 2019-20. Eighmey has a career coaching record of 132-58 in leading the Loper and Broncos programs for a total of seven seasons. Hastings won 25 and 28 games, respectively, in 2014 and 2015, reaching the NAIA Division II Tournament national quarterfinals in 2014 and the semifinals a year later.

ABOUT THE JETS
Newman is 10-16 on the season, 5-12 in their first season in the MIAA. Newman has one player averaging double digits this season, Kaitlyn Potter at 16.8 points per game.  Abbey George leads the Jets in rebounding at 4.6 rebounds per game. 

ABOUT THE LOPERS
Nebraska-Kearney is 25-3 on the season, 14-3 in the MIAA. The Lopers are led by Brooke Carlson at 12.2 points per game and have two other players averaging double figures. Klaire Kirsch leads the team in rebounding at 8.0 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the fourth meeting between Newman and Nebraska-Kearney with the latest meeting being Feb. 8^th, 2020 where the Lopers knocked off the Jets 59-46 in Kearney, Neb.

LAST TIME VS. NEBRASKA-KEARNEY 
Newman would start the scoring in this contest with an Abbey George layup.  Nebraska-Kearney would respond going on a 7-1 run before a Faith Mason-Vestal Jumper ended the run.  Nebraska-Kearney (22-2, 11-2) would get their biggest lead of the quarter at 7 with 3:36 left, as they would go up 12-5.  The teams would exchange baskets but UNK would take a 5 point lead after the first quarter.  In the second quarter, the Lopers started to get on a roll as they would outscore the Jets 19-8 in the quarter on 7-15 shooting from the field to gain a 33-17 lead at the intermission.  In the second half, Newman trailed by as many as 23 points in the third quarter, 44-21, were able to cut into the deficit but Nebraska-Kearney would have an answer for every Newman basket. In the fourth quarter, Newman was able to outscore the Lopers 16-10 but the Lopers lead was too big for the Jets as Newman would fall 59-46. UNK controlled the points in the paint as they would outscore the Jets 30-14. 

UP NEXT
The Jets will return to for Senior Day as they host Fort Hays State on Saturday, Feb. 29^th with tip-off slated for 1:30 P.M. for another MIAA conference matchup.

LISTEN, WATCH & FOLLOW LIVE
Video streams for all of Newman's regular season contests are available on a pay per view basis on the MIAA Network. Events are available live and are immediately archived for on-demand viewing at the conclusion of the event at www.themiaanetwork.com/newman and on the MIAA Network apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. Listen along to all of the Newman Jets games on The Jets Audio Network with Blake Cripps on the call at newmanjets.com/listen. You can now find all things Newman in the Newman Jets Athletics app available in both the App Store and on Google Play. For all of your Newman Jets Athletics apparel needs visit nujetsgear.com!