Friday Afternoon Sports – Kearney Bearcat Football Awarded for Academic Excellence, Markowski Added to Top Ten Award List, Husker Women Outlast Sparty, UNK Basketball Splits at UCO, Local Sports Schedule (2023)

KEARNEY BEARCAT FOOTBALL AWARDED FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:

The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame today announced the state winners of the 2022-23 NFF National High School Academic Excellence Awards, which go to the top academic football teams from each level of play within each state.

The 60 teams will now vie as finalists for the NFF Hatchell Cup, which will be announced Feb. 8 and recognizes the top individual high school football team in the nation for excellence in the classroom, on the field and in the community.

Kearney High School was named as the only Class A program to the award finalist, joining six other schools ranging from Class B to six-man.

More details here:

MARKOWSKI NAMED TO LISA LESLIE AWARD TOP TEN:

Nebraska sophomore Alexis Markowski advanced to the list of 10 contenders for the 2023 Lisa Leslie Award, which was announced Friday, Feb. 3, by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the WBCA.

The Lisa Leslie Award honors the nation’s top center in NCAA Division I women’s basketball and is named after three-time All-American and 1994 National Player of the Year Lisa Leslie, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

The only sophomore among the 10 finalists for the 2023 Lisa Leslie Award, Markowski has been a force inside for Nebraska. The 6-3 center has produced 10 double-doubles, including four in Nebraska’s last six Big Ten Conference games.

The 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Markowski was a preseason first-team All-Big Ten choice in 2022-23 after earning second-team all-conference honors a year ago.

STORM SET FOR THREE GAME WEEKEND:

The Tri-City Storm is set to begin a three-game weekend on the road tonight at Liberty First Credit Union Arena in a rivalry matchup against the Omaha Lancers.

Tri-City will face off against Omaha again tomorrow night at 6:05pm CT, before completing this weekend’s road series against the Sioux Falls Stampede at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center at 4:05pm CT on Sunday.

Puck drop for tonight’s game is scheduled for 7:05pm CT.

HUSKER WOMEN’S HOOPS ESCAPES LATE RALLY BY SPARTY:

Isabelle Bourne scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Alexis Markowski and Sam Haiby both added double-doubles to lead the Nebraska women’s basketball team to a 71-67 victory over Michigan State on Thursday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

With the win, Nebraska improved to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in the Big Ten, while Michigan State slipped to 11-11 overall and 3-8 in the conference.

The Huskers return to Big Ten road action on Monday when they travel to Evanston, Ill., to face Northwestern. Tip-off between the Big Red and the Wildcats is set for 6 p.m.

UNK BASKETBALL SPLITS WITH UCO IN EDMOND:

The Lopers traveled down to Edmond, Okla. for a doubleheader tilt with the Bronchos splitting Thursday night at Central Oklahoma.

For the women, super senior forward Elisa Backes scored a season-high 24 points and No. 12 Nebraska Kearney went on a 21-0 third quarter run to blast Central Oklahoma, 85-44.

The Lopers (21-3, 14-2) win an eighth straight game and sweep the season series from the Bronchos (7-12, 4-11). UNK also picks up a rare win in Edmond (3-8 overall).

Meanwhile on the men’s side, the No. 4th/6th-ranked Central Oklahoma Bronchos closed on a 25-4 run to pull away from Nebraska Kearney, 81-55.

The ‘Chos (20-2, 14-2) bounce back from a loss last Saturday at Missouri Southern while the Lopers (4-17, 2-12) are still searching for its first-ever win in Edmond, falling in all 11 tries.

UNK heads to Wichita on Saturday evening to face Newman.

LOPER SOFTBALL OPENS 2023 SEASON IN LUBBOCK:

The Nebraska Kearney softball team begins the 2023 season with four games this weekend at the annual Lubbock (Texas) Sports College Classic.

The Lopers face Colorado-Colorado Springs (11 a.m.) and Eastern New Mexico (3 p.m.) on Friday and Southwestern Oklahoma State (11 a.m.) and tourney host Lubbock Christian (3 p.m.) on Saturday. Check the UNK softball schedule page for media links and field location; live results are available for each game with a free live video stream available on Saturday.

Last year in this tourney, UNK fell to both UCCS, 4-2, and LCU, 6-1, while beating both ENMU and SWOSU back in the spring of 2020.

Head coach Katie Ackermann has a squad picked to finish eighth in the 14-team MIAA this year.

UNK TENNIS RANKED FIFTH IN MIAA:

The Nebraska Kearney women’s tennis team is picked fifth in the 2023 MIAA preseason coaches’ poll.

Washburn (six first place; 62 points) is the favorite with Central Oklahoma (three first place; 54 points) second and Northwest Missouri third (47). UNK tallied 39 points to trail Missouri Western (46) and be ahead of Northeastern State (30).

Last spring, the Lopers went 4-4 in MIAA duals to place fifth after the regular season and then lost their opening round MIAA Tournament match to Northwest. UCO (24-2, 8-0) won the MIAA regular season and tourney titles before finishing as Division II National Runners Up. The Bronchos, however, lost the majority of its lineup from that squad.

UNK went 6-0 in the fall and also competed in two open tournaments.

The Lopers host Midwestern (Texas) State Friday at 4 p.m. in the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center to start the spring campaign. It’ll be UNK’s first dual in the new facility.

HUSKER WRESTLING VISITS ILLINOIS; PURDUE THIS WEEKEND:

Coming off a recent dominating win over Wisconsin, the #10 Nebraska wrestling team will hit the road to face both #21 Illinois and Purdue this week. The battle with the Fighting Illini is slated for 7 p.m. on Feb. 3, while the Huskers and Boilermakers will wrestle beginning at 5 p.m. on Feb. 4.

Illinois (5-5, 3-3 Big Ten) enters Friday’s competition with a one-match losing streak, as the Fighting Illini fell to #11 Minnesota on Jan. 28, 24-9. The Illinois lineup features seven wrestlers ranked in the Top 25, led by Lucas Byrd (133) and Zac Braunagel (197) both in 10th.

Purdue (4-8, 0-5 Big Ten) is coming off four-straight losses to ranked opponents as the team dropped matches to #25 Illinois (Jan. 14), #16 Wisconsin (Jan. 20), #13 Minnesota (Jan. 22) and #25 Indiana (Jan. 29). The Boilermakers are led by #3 Matt Ramos (125), #14 Parker Filius (141) and #6 Kendall Coleman (157) who are all ranked in the top 25.

The Huskers (7-3, 3-1 Big Ten) return to action after a recent home win over #13 Wisconsin last Sunday.

LeBRON JAMES CLOSING IN ON SCORING RECORD:

Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and fueled another frantic fourth-quarter rally last night, helping erase a 14-point deficit to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 112-111 victory over the Pacers.

He’s now 63 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s career record, 38,387 points.

James is now at 38,325 and this one clearly means something special to him.

The Lakers are at New Orleans on Saturday, followed by home matchups with the Thunder and Milwaukee on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

Local Results & Schedules:

THIS WEEK IN LOCAL SPORTS:

THURSDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • Swimming & Diving: v. Norfolk @ Kearney High School
    • KHS – Win
  • Wrestling: @ Grand Island
    • KHS 44-28 GISH
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • Girls Basketball: v. Adams Central
    • AC 48-34 KCHS
• UNK:
  • Women’s Basketball: @ Central Oklahoma
    • UNK 85-44 UCO
  • Men’s Basketball: @ Central Oklahoma
    • UCO 81-55 UNK

FRIDAY:

• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • Wrestling: @ Arcadia-Loup City Invite – 2 PM
• UNK:
  • Softball: v. Colorado Springs @ Lubbock, TX – 11 AM
  • M/W T&F: @ Concordia Classic – 12 PM
  • Softball: v. Eastern New Mexico @ Lubbock, TX – 3 PM
  • Women’s Tennis: v. Midwestern State – 4 PM
  • M/W T&F: @ Husker Invitational @ Lincoln, NE – 4:30 PM
  • Wrestling: v. Fort Hays State @ Health & Sports Center – 7 PM
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • M/W T&F: @ Concordia Classic – 1 PM
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Sports Nightly (6 PM – 8 PM)

SATURDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • Swimming & Diving: Kearney High Diving Invite @ Kearney High School – 10 AM
  • Girls Basketball: v. Lincoln Northeast @ Kearney High School – 3:30 PM
    • KGFW Pregame at 3:15 PM
  • Boys Basketball: v. Lincoln Northeast @ Kearney High School – 5:15 PM
    • KGFW Pregame after KHS GBB
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • Swimming & Diving: Kearney High Diving Invite @ Kearney High School – 10 AM
  • Girls Basketball: v. Columbus Scotus Catholic – 2 PM
  • Boys Basketball: v. Columbus Scotus Catholic – 4 PM
• UNK:
  • M/W T&F: @ Husker Invitational @ Lincoln, NE – 12 PM
  • Softball: v. Southwestern Oklahoma State @ Lubbock, TX – 11 AM
  • Women’s Basketball: @ Newman – 1:30 PM
  • Wrestling: v. Central Missouri @ Health & Sports Center – 2 PM
  • Softball: @ Lubbock Christian @ Lubbock, TX – 3 PM
  • Men’s Basketball: @ Newman – 3:30 PM
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • Softball: @ Ottawa, KS – 1 PM
  • Women’s Basketball: @ Mount Marty – 2 PM
  • Softball: @ Ottawa, KS – 3 PM
  • Men’s Basketball: @ Mount Marty – 3:45 PM
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • Kearney Girls Basketball v. Lincoln Northeast (3:15 PM – 5:15 PM)
  • Kearney Boys Basketball v. Lincoln Northeast (5:15 PM – 7:15 PM)

SUNDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • Women’s Tennis: v. Hastings – 8 AM
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a
• KGFW Sports Schedule:
  • N/a