Five ‘Roos reached double figures as the Missouri-Kansas City women’s basketball team completed the season sweep of Chicago State and scored a season-high in the 77-46 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Swinney Recreation Center.
“Today was one of our best all-around efforts of the season,” Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “The thing that stood out the most was, not just our balance offensively, but that we took care of the basketball. It’s been a point of emphasis all season and when we take care of the ball, good things are going to happen for us. Defensively, a big thing for us is mixing up our defenses as much as we can to keep teams off balance. Whenever we are aggressive defensively, it seems to fuel us offensively.”
Leading the UMKC attack was freshman Kiana Law who notched her fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while tying her career-high with four assists and two steals in just 22 minutes of action. Matching Law for the team lead in double-doubles, Grace Mitchell finished with 12 points and career-high tying marks of 12 rebounds and three steals, marking the second time this season that duo each recorded double-doubles in the same game after accomplishing the feat earlier in the season against the Cougars.
Sierra Bone, meanwhile, scored a career-high 12 points, including hitting two of her four three point attempts, and dished out a team and career-high five assists after entering the game with just two points and four assists total for the entire season.
“We came out with a lot of energy,” Bone said. “We knew that we wanted to put them away right from the beginning. We emphasized our execution and limiting turnovers and that is always a key for us offensively. My teammates did a good job of setting me up and when I was open, they kicked it to me so I good get a shot up. When I drove, they were there if I got stuck, giving me an outlet and us a good look. They did a great job being there for me throughout the game.”
Rounding out the double figure scorers for the Kangaroos were Aries Washington and Taylor Leathers. Washington reached double figures for the fourth time in her last five games, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists and Leathers added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting with four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The ‘Roos, who improve to 5-19 overall and 3-6 in WAC play, held just a four point advantage early in the contest, before Bone entered the game an immediately buried a three from the right corner.
On the ensuing possession, the Flower Mound, Texas, native converted a pair of free throws before knocking down a jumper, giving her seven straight and jump starting a 21-2 run that stretched the UMKC lead to a first half high 20 with 3:32 left in the opening stanza.
The Cougars, who drop to 4-19 on the season and 1-8 in the conference, would cut the lead to 17, but two Leather’s free throws pushed the lead back to 19 at 43-24 heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the lead held at 19 just over three minutes in, before 12-2 run that Calli White started with a three and Leathers capped with back-to-back jumpers stretched the lead to 29 with just over 12 minutes left in the contest.
Chicago State, however, would not be able to get within 20 the rest of the way and twice the ‘Roos built their lead to a game-high 36 before coming away with the 77-46 victory.
For the ‘Roos, White finished with six points, five assists, three steals and two rebounds, while Samantha Waldron notched seven points, four assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal.
As a team, the ‘Roos out rebounded the Cougars 41-26 and dominated the secondary stats, outscoring them 38-20 in the paint, 22-5 off turnovers, 19-5 on second chances and 29-9 off the bench. Offensively, UMKC shot 41.7 percent from three-point range and 80.0 percent from the free throw stripe, while the 77 points are a new season-high, as are the 23 assists on the 30 field goals. On the defensive end, UMKC forced a season-high 19 turnovers, including a season-high 14 steals, and limited CSU to just 38.6 percent shooting, allowing only three made three-point baskets.
The Blue & Gold will remain in Kansas City for their next contest on Feb. 19 when they welcome in Seattle to the SRC for a 7 p.m. WAC tilt next Thursday.