See the latest updates for the Newman University Jets.
Men’s Basketball
The Jets pushed their winning streak to six last weekend, picking up wins over Texas-Permian Basin and Oklahoma Panhandle State on the road. In the Texas-Permian Basin contest, Jake Darby scored 12 points to lead the Jets, while Jaray Mathews finished with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The game everybody is talking about happened two days later when the Jets knocked off Heartland Conference rival Oklahoma Panhandle State, sneaking away with a 102-97 win over the Aggies Saturday in Goodwell, Okla. Keaton Schultz took 10 three-point shots, and made nine of them on his way to a career-high 32 points to lead the Jets, while Will Burdette added a career-high 18 points. In all, five Jets finished in double figures in Newman’s sixth-straight win.
After going nine-for-10 from long range in Saturday night’s win, Schultz now leads all of college basketball with a .576 percentage from beyond the arc. The junior from Neodesha, Kan., has made 57 of the 99 three-point attempts he has shot this season.
The Jets are back in action this weekend with what may possibly be the biggest weekend ever for the program. Newman hosts St. Mary’s Thursday at 8 p.m., then hosts second-place Incarnate Word Saturday in a 4:30 p.m. contest at Fugate Gymnasium. Saturday’s game will be Newman’s first-ever “Blue Out.” All fans are encouraged to wear blue to the game. Admission to Saturday’s game is two cans of food to be donated to the Haiti relief effort.
Women’s Basketball
After dropping a 64-48 contest to Texas-Permian Basin Thursday night in Odessa, Texas, the Newman women’s basketball team picked up its first road win of the season, defeating Heartland Conference rival Oklahoma Panhandle State 73-61 Saturday night in Goodwell, Okla. Rainey Nickel posted her first double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Jets moved into fourth place in the Heartland Conference. Hadley Freeman drained five threes and tied her career high of 17 points in the Newman win.
The women’s team returns to action this weekend, hosting conference front-runners St. Mary’s and Incarnate Word. The Jets take on the St. Mary’s Rattlers Thursday at 5:30, and conclude their weekend with a 2 p.m. tilt with the Cardinals of Incarnate Word Saturday. Both games will be played inside Newman’s Fugate Gymnasium.
Wrestling
Brothers Blake and Brent Fisher each posted 3-1 marks, but the Newman wrestling team couldn’t put together a win in last weekend’s Central Missouri Dual Jamboree, hosted by the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo. Newman dropped dual matches to University of Mary (33-12), Northern State (40-6), Chadron State (27-13), and No. 7 Wisconsin-Parkside (38-9) in the event.
The Jets are back in action this weekend when they host the Kansas Cup, a tournament featuring every collegiate wrestling program in the state of Kansas. Action begins Sunday at 9 a.m. inside Newman’s Fugate Gymnasium.
Bowling
The Newman bowling teams returned to action this past weekend. Both the men’s and women’s teams held their own in the biggest field ever assembled for a college bowling tournament. The men’s field at The Blue and Gold Classic was made up of 66 men’s teams, while 44 women’s teams competed in the event.
The women got out to a fast start and showed their consistency throughout the whole tournament, finishing 10th in the 44-team field. Newman sophomore Valerie Connelly had her best performance of the year, leading the Jets with a 189 average for the tournament. Fellow teammate Linzey Roberts chipped in with a 180 average.
The Newman men’s squad got off to a slow start, but finished strong to end the tournament in fifth place in the 66-team field. The Jets were led by Blake Starr who averaged 210 for the tournament. All-American candidate Derek Hartnell did his part by averaging 209 for the weekend.
The Jets are back in action Feb. 6 when they travel to Fairview Heights, Ill., for the McKendree Classic.
