Friday, November 9
Conway, Ark.
7:00 p.m. CT
Kansas City
73
at
63
Central Arkansas
Chazny Morris Hits For 24 As Kangaroos Notch First Season-Opening Win Since 2003-04 Season
11/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Conway, Ark. -- The first full season of the Candace White-Whitaker era started exactly as her tenure did, as UMKC downed Central Arkansas on the road by a 73-63 margin. Sophomore Chazny Morris had a career-best performance and the Kangaroos trailed for just 1:24 in the contest, rolling to the first season-opening win by a UMKC women's basketball team since the 2003-04 season.
UMKC jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, with Krystal VanHook having a hand in the first three Kangaroo baskets. She scored the first bucket, forced a steal for a fast break bucket by Morris and dished to Alysa Klein for the third.
The Kangaroos hit a bit of a cold spell but managed to hang on to the lead until the 10:21 mark, when Meagen Nickell hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 12-12.
The hosts would take their first lead of the game with 8:46 left in the half on a jumper by Carnisha Bolden. UMKC would fire right back with a klein jumper, but Jamye Adair hit a trey to put the hosts back on top, 19-17.
UMKC shrugged off the short spurt by the Sugar Bears, closing out the half on a 23-9 run. A majority of the Kangaroos scoring came from the free-throw line, as the Kangaroos made 12 of their 16 efforts from the charity stripe, including a 5-of-6 performance by Morris.
Within the first four minutes after the half, UMKC had pushed out to a 48-31 lead, but Central Arkansas doggedly fought back. Hitting four of its next five shots sparked UCA to a 16-2 run. The hosts closed the gap to 50-46 with 11:12 left in the game.
VanHook would link up with Sierra Radke on the next two Kangaroo possessions however to put a halt to the Sugar Bears' push, draining a jumper from the lane off a dish from Radke before feeding Radke for a three-pointer to push UMKC's margin back to a comfortable nine points.
With both teams in the bonus by the 7:59 mark and both in the double bonus by the 1:24 mark, the flow of the game slowed as UMKC coasted to a 10-point win.
Morris led all scorers with 24 points on the evening, adding eight rebounds and five steals. Klein was also in double-digits for the Kangaroos with 11 points, although she was limited to just 23 minutes by foul trouble. VanHook also grabbed eight rebounds for the Kangaroos on the night to go with five points and three assists.
As a team, UMKC outshot Central Arkansas from the floor hitting at a 39.7 percent (23-58) clip to just 37.0 percent (20-54) for the visitors. The Sugar Bears edged out UMKC from beyond the arc (46.2 percent/6-13 to 25.0 percent/4-16), but the Kangaroos made up for it with six more maked from the free throw line (23-35/65.7 percent to 17-28/60.7 percent) on the evening.
Meagan Nickell led the hosts with 14 points on the night, with Meaghen Kelleybrew adding 13 and Adair contributing 11. Adair also grabbed eight boards for the Sugar Bears, who outrebounded the Kangaroos by a scant 39-35 margin on the night.
UMKC returns home on Sunday to take on the Air Force Falcons. Tipoff for the game is set for 2 p.m. at Swinney Recreation Center.
UMKC jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, with Krystal VanHook having a hand in the first three Kangaroo baskets. She scored the first bucket, forced a steal for a fast break bucket by Morris and dished to Alysa Klein for the third.
The Kangaroos hit a bit of a cold spell but managed to hang on to the lead until the 10:21 mark, when Meagen Nickell hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 12-12.
The hosts would take their first lead of the game with 8:46 left in the half on a jumper by Carnisha Bolden. UMKC would fire right back with a klein jumper, but Jamye Adair hit a trey to put the hosts back on top, 19-17.
UMKC shrugged off the short spurt by the Sugar Bears, closing out the half on a 23-9 run. A majority of the Kangaroos scoring came from the free-throw line, as the Kangaroos made 12 of their 16 efforts from the charity stripe, including a 5-of-6 performance by Morris.
Within the first four minutes after the half, UMKC had pushed out to a 48-31 lead, but Central Arkansas doggedly fought back. Hitting four of its next five shots sparked UCA to a 16-2 run. The hosts closed the gap to 50-46 with 11:12 left in the game.
VanHook would link up with Sierra Radke on the next two Kangaroo possessions however to put a halt to the Sugar Bears' push, draining a jumper from the lane off a dish from Radke before feeding Radke for a three-pointer to push UMKC's margin back to a comfortable nine points.
With both teams in the bonus by the 7:59 mark and both in the double bonus by the 1:24 mark, the flow of the game slowed as UMKC coasted to a 10-point win.
Morris led all scorers with 24 points on the evening, adding eight rebounds and five steals. Klein was also in double-digits for the Kangaroos with 11 points, although she was limited to just 23 minutes by foul trouble. VanHook also grabbed eight rebounds for the Kangaroos on the night to go with five points and three assists.
As a team, UMKC outshot Central Arkansas from the floor hitting at a 39.7 percent (23-58) clip to just 37.0 percent (20-54) for the visitors. The Sugar Bears edged out UMKC from beyond the arc (46.2 percent/6-13 to 25.0 percent/4-16), but the Kangaroos made up for it with six more maked from the free throw line (23-35/65.7 percent to 17-28/60.7 percent) on the evening.
Meagan Nickell led the hosts with 14 points on the night, with Meaghen Kelleybrew adding 13 and Adair contributing 11. Adair also grabbed eight boards for the Sugar Bears, who outrebounded the Kangaroos by a scant 39-35 margin on the night.
UMKC returns home on Sunday to take on the Air Force Falcons. Tipoff for the game is set for 2 p.m. at Swinney Recreation Center.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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