Kangaroos Battle Back From 18-Point Halftime Deficit But Fall In Overtime, 75-73

Saturday, December 15

Columbia, Mo.

1:00 p.m. CT

Kansas City

Missouri

Kangaroos Battle Back From 18-Point Halftime Deficit But Fall In Overtime, 75-73

12/15/2007 5:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: UMKC Athletics

Columbia, Mo. -- UMKC continued its four-game road swing on Saturday afternoon, visiting Missouri. The Kangaroos fought back from an 18-point halftime deficit to force overtime, but couldn't finish the comeback as they fell 75-73 to the Tigers.

The Kangaroos stumbled out of the gate, coughing the ball up 10 times and missing their first eight efforts from the floor as Missouri ran out to a 18-0 lead.

Sierra Radke finally cracked the goose egg for UMKC, dropping in a layup with 11:03 left in the half. She would add a second bucket to go with layups by Alysa Klein and Taushelle Rushing as UMKC dashed to a 8-2 spurt, pulling back to within a 20-8 margin with 9:31 left.

Missouri answered four points, but a three-pointer by Sarah Stewart and a layup on the break pulled UMKC within 11 with 8:05 left.

UMKC couldn't pull any closer, however, trailing 38-20 as the teams went into the locker rooms at the half.

Coming out of the locker room, UMKC looked re-invigorated, whittling the Missouri lead down to eight. Chazny Morris converted a four-point play with 6:40 left, draining a triple and tacking on one as she was fouled on her attempt. Klein converted one of her two trips to the line to pull UMKC within 53-45 with just under six minutes left.

Missouri fired back, extending the margin to 13 with 3:44 left, but the Kangaroos clawed back, draining three of their four attempts from long range.

It would be the most unlikely of clutch players that would make the difference for UMKC, however. After UMKC was forced to foul Missouri with seven seconds left on the clock, Shakara Jones made both to leave the Kangaroos within striking distance. Tarah Cullen - who had just checked into the game for UMKC - drew contact on her three-point effort as the clock expired. She calmly sank all three charity tosses to send the game into overtime.

The Kangaroos struck first in the extra frame, as Stewart canned a triple with 3:20 left, but UMKC couldn't pull out the clutch a second time, falling 75-73 to the Tigers.

Four players finished in double figures for UMKC, led by Radke's 15 points. Klein chipped in 14, with Stewart adding 12 and Morris 10. The Kangaroos also won the rebounding battle 46-39, with Radke leading the team with eight.

Missourl also had four players hit double digits, led by Alyssa Hollins' 21-point outburst. Jones finished with a double-double on the afternoon, grabbing 10 rebounds to go with 17 points.

Both teams finished with 25 field goals on the afternoon, but UMKC was more proficient from three-point range, hitting at a 45 percent (9-20) clip to a 25 percent (6-24) success rate for Missouri. The Tigers atoned at the charity stripe, however, hitting 19 of 30 attempts to just 14 of 22 for UMKC.

The Kangaroos finish out their four-game road trip on Wednesday night, heading to Greeley, Colo. to take on the University of Northern Colorado. Tipoff for the game is set for 8 p.m. CST.