Debutantes IPFW Offer First Summit League Test For UMKC Women
12/7/2007 1:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Reigning Summit League Player of the Week Chazny Morris and the Kangaroos will look to extend their two-game winning streak on Saturday, as they visit IPFW. The game opens The Summit League portion of the schedule for UMKC's women, and is the first Game Of The Week featured matchup. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. CT from the Hilliard Sports Center in Fort Wayne, Ind.
By The Numbers
Coming into Saturday's contest, UMKC has averaged a slightly lower offensive output on the season than IPFW, scoring 68.4 points per contest to IPFW's 71.3. However, the Kangaroos have outperformed the Mastodons on the glass by better than four rebounds per game while maintaining better overall shooting marks on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ledger. UMKC has also recorded an average of four more swipes per game than its Saturday foe.
fg% 3fg% ft% reb. ast to blk stl pts o pts o fg%
UMKC .392 .256 .675 39.9 14.5 19.6 4.1 10.1 68.4 66.6 .384
IPFW .375 .324 .782 35.5 11.7 16.0 3.8 6.0 71.3 74.8 .409
About The Mastodons
In their first contest as a member of The Summit League, IPFW made a splash, downing Southern Utah by a 81-70 margin, and bring a 3-3 overall record into Saturday's contest. Entering his second year at the helm for IPFW, Chris Paul has put together a 21-34 overall record.
Individually, Johnna Lewis-Carlisle leads the Mastodons, scoring 21.8 points per contest, with Samantha Edwards adding 11.2 points per contest. Edwards is also the top glass cleaner for IPFW, averaging 6.2 boards per game. Lewis-Carlisle also leads the Mastodons with 11 steals and 18 assists on the year.
Last Time Out For The Kangaroos
The UMKC women's basketball team hosted Texas State on Monday night in its last non-conference tuneup. After a closely-fought first half, Chazny Morris exploded - scoring 17 of her game-high 30 points in the second - to pace the Kangaroos to a 80-68 win.
UMKC controlled the tip and took the first lead of the contest, at 5-2, but the teams would trade the lead back and forth nine times over the course of the first stanza. The Kangaroos were able to stretch the lead as high as four, leading 15-11 with 11:16 left in the half.
Texas State was able to wrest the lead back, pushing its cushion as high as three, holding a 25-22 margin with 5:35 left in the half.
Although the teams combined for 71 attempts in the first half, neither team was able to score over the final minute of the stanza and went into the half tied, 31-31.
The second half started out much like the first, as Taushelle Rushing opened with a pair of free throws for UMKC before Texas State answered for the 10th tie of the game, but the Kangaroos hit a cold stretch, coughing up the ball twice and missing on four straight attempts.
Texas State was only able to stretch its margin out to four, leading 37-33 with 17:56 left behind field goals from Marie Moser and Ashley Cole.
Morris fired immediately back with a trey to cut the deficit to one, hitting a jumper at the 16:35 mark to re-take the lead for UMKC.
The Kangaroos traded leads with the Bobcats nine more times over the next five minutes, before Texas State stretched its lead back out to four. Joyce Ekworomadu atoned for a turnover at the 11:19 mark, nailing a three to give the visitors a 50-54 lead with 10:50 left.
An unconventional four-point play with just over seven minutes left in the game sparked a 15-0 run for UMKC. Alysa Klein dropped in an easy layup off a feed from Sierra Radke, picking up a foul on the attempt. Klein missed on her trip to the line, but Marta Waalen cleaned up the board and laid the ball in to give UMKC a 59-58 lead. Morris and Klein each chipped in four during the run.
Texas State fired back with a six-point spurt, but couldn't close the gap as UMKC connected on eight of its nine trips to the free throw line over the final 2:19, rolling to a 12-point win.
Morris led all scorers on the night with 30, pulling down eight rebounds as well. Klein and Radke finished in double figures for UMKC as well, with 15 and 13 points respectively. Radke also dished a game-high six assists, as UMKC piled up 16 helpers to just nine for Texas State.
Ekworomadu and Brooke DeGrate each finished with 18 points for Texas State, with DeGrate grabbing 11 rebounds. The Bobcats outrebounded the Kangaroos 43-40 on the night and also held a 12-9 edge in steals.
The Kangaroos moved to 5-3 on the year, hitting at a 45.8 percent (27-59) success rate from the floor on the night. UMKC held Texas State to a 38.2 percent (29.76) mark on tne night and outshot the Bobcats by a 37.5 percent to 18.8 percent rate from distance. The Kangaroos took advantage of the charity stripe, connecting on 71.9 percent (23-32) of their efforts to just seven makes in nine tries for Texas State.
Starting Fast
In her first full season at the helm for UMKC, head coach Candace White-Whitaker jumped in with both feet, as her squad opened the regular season with four games over a span of eight days. The Kangaroos opened the 2007-08 campaign with a road contest at Central Arkansas on November 9 before returning home to face the Lady Falcons of Air Force on Sunday. After a mid-week jaunt to Lawrence to take on Kansas, UMKC wrapped up the busy stretch with a home game against Northern Colorado on November 17.
The Kangaroos will be rewarded for the busy start with a holiday break, however, as UMKC is not scheduled to play a contest for a 12-day span stretching between December 19 and January 2.
UMKC In League Openers
Candace White-Whitaker captured a win to open league play last season, downing Southern Utah 64-48. Overall, UMKC is 6-7 in league openers, with a 2-2 record when opening the league slate away from home. The last time the Kangaroos opened the conference slate with a road win came in the 2002-03 season, when UMKC downed Southern Utah by a 61-54 margin.
In The Last, Win The First?
Fans of UMKC women's basketball will certainly hope that head coach Candace White-Whitaker doesn't follow in the footsteps of the previous two coaches who captured victories in season openers for the Kangaroos. Both Bo Overton and Dana Eikenberg opened the final season of their respective tenures with victories. Overton picked up a 71-46 decision over Northern Colorado to open the 2006-07 campaign before departing for the Chicago Sky of the WNBA mid-season, while Eikenberg downed Kansas by a 63-50 margin before leaving after the 2003-04 season for Southern Illinois.
Looking back to the first time the Kangaroos opened the road slate with a win also gives a bit of pause, as Jeff Tadtman dispatched Southeast Missouri State on the road by a 71-70 scoreline in the final season of his tenure. UMKC would later forfeit the contest, although the result has not been
Seconds Please...
The Kangaroos' win over Air Force marked just the third time since UMKC joined the Division I ranks that the Kangaroos started the season 2-0. Brian Agler is the last coach to accomplish that feat, doing so in back-to-back seasons in 1991-92 and 1992-93. The 1991-92 squad opened with a four-game winning streak en route to a 24-7 overall record, while the 1992-93 version of the Kangaroos mustered a three-game streak and finished with a 17-10 record. Ironically the 1992-93 feat also marked the end of a coaching tenure at UMKC, as Agler departed following the campaign.
Three-Point Play
Thus far on the 2007-08 season, UMKC is still looking to find the range from deep. The Kangaroos have managed just over a 25 percent success rate from beyond the arc, hitting only 34 of their 133 attempts on the year. Ironically however, success has been a harbinger of doom for UMKC before Monday's win over Texas State, as the Kangaroos finished with a better shooting percentage from three-point range than Kansas in a road loss.
Home Sweet Home
Kansas City has been a welcome home for UMKC this season, as the Kangaroos hold a perfect 4-0 record at home. On the road, however, UMKC has picked up just one win, compiling a 1-2 record as visitor and an 0-1 neutral site record - although UMKC was the away team in that contest as well.
That 70's Show
UMKC is a perfect 4-0 on the year when scoring 70 points or more, finishing two contests on 73 points. The Kangaroos downed Central Arkansas by a 73-63 count to open the season before hanging on for a 73-70 win over Saint Louis on Thursday night. UMKC also reached the 70-point plateau in its win over Colorado State and crested 80 points for the first time on the season against Texas State on Monday. On the flip side of the ledger, UMKC isn't so much a fan of the 50's, having dropped both contests where they ended the evening with fewer than 59 points - losses at Kansas and against South Alabama.
Speed Kills
In UMKC's exhibition game against Oklahoma Panhandle State University, junior Taushelle Rushing nabbed eight steals in the game, including six in the first half. The mark matched the single-game record for the Kangaroos, set by Jennifer Sposato against Buffalo on February 2, 1997, although it won't go down in the books as the contest was an exhibition.
She started the season with a flourish, swiping four on UMKC's 18 in the season opener at Central Arkansas, and has averaged just over three swipes per game thus far on the short season. At her current pace, Rushing would finish the year with the fourth-best single-season mark in UMKC history, with 98.
The transfer from Seward County CC set a single-season NJCAA Region XI record with 215 swipes as a sophomore, finishing with 303 on her career to put her second in the SCCC record books.
Seeing Double
UMKC has two players who are averaging double figures for the Kangaroos this season, led by Chazny Morris' 20.1 points per game. The sophomore has scored in double figures in all eight games so far this season, with her 30 points against Texas State marking the first time since Katie Houlehan's 35-point outing against Oakland on January 20, 2003 that a Kangaroo player has crested the 30-point plateau.
Seeing Double-double
Double-doubles have been tantalizingly close in several contests for the Kangaroos this season, so it's not surprising that UMKC's first game to see a double-double saw two. Sierra Radke (14 pts, 11 a) and Kalei Nance (10 pts, 10 reb.) both hit the milestone for UMKC, although Nance will get credit for the first. Nance pulled in her 10th board with 2:31 left in the game, while Radke's 10th assist came at the 1:32 mark.
In the regular season opener, Chazny Morris came up just two rebounds shy of the marker, grabbing eight boards to go with 24 points. She followed up that performance with another near miss in an 11-point, nine-rebound outing against Air Force. Alysa Klein also wound up just shy, scoring 15 and pulling down eight boards against Air Force. Klein once again fell short against South Alabama, needing just two more grabs to go with 27 points.
In UMKC's exhibition contest against Oklahoma Panhandle State University, the Kangaroos had three players within reach of double-double marks on the night.
Taushelle Rushing finished two steals shy of the double, dropping 10 points to go with her eight swipes on the afternoon. Krystal VanHook was also close, with her team-best 18 points and seven rebounds coming up just short as well. Heather Wimberly was the closest of the three, needing just one more dish to hit a double-double (10 pts, 9 a) on the day. She was also within reach of a triple-double, finishing with seven rebounds (3 o, 4 d) in the contest.
Season Double-doubles
Kalei Nance (10 pts, 10 reb) - vs. Saint Louis, 11/29/07
Sierra Radke (14 pts, 11 a) - vs. Saint Louis, 11/29/07
Half's Fine, Thanks...
In seven of UMKC's first eight contests thus far, the half-time result has stood, with UMKC leading at the break in each of its four wins and trailing in each of its three losses. The Kangaroos have also picked up the win in the lone time that the teams went into the intermission tied.
Winning Unselfishly
UMKC has also made a habit of being unselfish on offense this season, holding a 116-100 edge in assists thus far. The Kangaroos have finished six games with more assists than their opponents, winning five. The only contest to see the Kangaroos finish with more assists in a losing effort was a 69-55 loss to South Alabama.
A large part of that edge came against Saint Louis, as the Kangaroos dished out 21 helpers on the night.
Helping Out Your Friends
Sierra Radke's 11-assist outing against Saint Louis was not just a career best for the senior, it marked the first time since the 2005-06 season that a Kangaroo dished out 10 assists or more in a single game. The previous double-digit dish night came against Oakland, as Jowan Ortega handed out 10 dimes in a 75-61 win on January 16, 2006. Ortega fell just shy of the double-double mark on the evening, however, finishing the night with eight points.
Inside Out?
Although she is a key inside threat for the Kangaroos, senior Alysa Klein can also hit the three ball with the best of them. Klein is 2-3 from outside the arc in her career after swishing a trey from the top of the key against South Alabama. The Okoboji, Iowa, native also drained her solo effort from distance during the 2006-07 season, hitting at Oakland on January 6.
Block Party
Just three games into the 2007-08 season, Alysa Klein followed up on her record-setting performance from last year by capturing the top spot on the career blocks list at UMKC. Klein passed Lauren Powers, recording her 145th career swat with 7:09 left in the second half at Kansas. The Okoboji, Iowa, native's career average of 1.6 blks/gm is the third best in program history, and projects to a final mark of 170. However, a double-century mark is not out of reach should the senior return to the pace she enjoyed on the 2006-07 season. She hit a slight hiccup against San Francisco and South Alabama, as she failed to record a block in back-to-back games for the first time in better than a year. The last time Klein was without a rejection in consecutive games was on January 21 and 23, 2006, as she failed to register a block at either IUPUI or Oral Roberts.
1. Alysa Klein 151 b 95 g 1.6
2. Lauren Powers 144 b 103 g 1.4
3. Joy Ommen 75 b 21 g 3.6
4. LaRonna Lassiter 63 b 103 g 0.6
5. Georgia Bivens 61 b 53 g 1.2
On The Glass
With the concentration on Alysa Klein's move last season into the second spot on the all-time blocks list at UMKC, her appearance among the top 10 rebounders slid under the radar. She moved into fifth place at Kansas and now has 555 grabs for her career. If she is able to duplicate her pace from the 2006-07 season, Klein can reach second spot on the list, although claiming a second top spot would take a monstrous effort.
1. Laurie Smith 864 r 123 g 7.0
2. Stephanie Worthy 696 r 67 g 10.4
3. Darci Haas 654 r 106 g 6.2
4. Lauren Powers 600 r 103 g 5.9
5. Alysa Klein 555 r 95 g 5.8
6. Mary Michalski 524 r 55 g 9.5
Making It Count
With her 27-point explosion against South Alabama, Alysa Klein moved into a third top-10 list at UMKC and now sits with 365 career field goal makes. She passed Amy Thompson, and now sets her sights on Liz Daney and Lauren Powers, who have 376 and 379 respectively.
1. Penny Waggener 123 g 613 fg 5.0
2. Stephanie Worthy 67 g 540 8.0
3. Julie Nill 85 g 497 5.8
4. Katie Houlehan 115 g 490 4.3
5. Laurie Smith 123 g 474 fg 3.9
6. Darci Haas 106 g 418 fg 3.9
7. Meredith Wilcox 104 g 401 fg 3.9
8. Lauren Powers 103 g 379 fg 3.7
9. Liz Daney 99 g 376 fg 3.8
10. Alysa Klein 95 g 365 fg 3.8
Morris From Three
Chazny Morris set a freshman record last season, nailing 37 of 84 attempts from three-point range, a 44.0 percent mark, also good for the third-best all-time single-season mark, just three tenths of a percent behind Veda McNeal.
Although Morris hasn't hit at a torrid pace to start the season, she sits just shy of the top five with a .381 success mark.
1. Eve Barry 28-61 .459
2. Broda Dickerson 31-73 .425
3. Julie Jenson 98-232 .422
4. Kelly Walden 95-243 .391
5. Veda McNeal 174-452 .385
6. Chazny Morris 51-134 .381
Wimberly Out
After starting the first six games of the season for UMKC, Heather Wimberly has missed the last two games due to an injury, and is expected to miss this weekend's Summit League opening weekend.
Debuting With Panache
Freshman Sarah Stewart made her collegiate debut against Kansas looking like anything but a true freshman. Entering the game with just under four minutes left in the first half, she scored eight points, hitting three of her first four shots. She finished the night with a team-best 14 points, adding two rebounds.
Seward County Connections
With her success as a player at Seward County (Kan.) Community College, it is only reasonable that head coach Candace White-Whitaker would look close to home on the recruiting trail. Senior Sierra Radke and junior Taushelle Rushing both come to the Kangaroos following successful careers with the Lady Saints.
Youth Is Served
Sophomore Chazny Morris made an immediate impact after winning a spot in the starting rotation a third of the way through the 2006-07 season. She finished the year averaging 8.9 pts/gm, good for third on the team and enough to earn a spot on the all-Newcomer team and win the 2007 Mid-Con Newcomer of the Year award - marking the second consecutive season that a Kangaroo laid claim to the honor. She finished with a .440 mark from beyond the arc, the best-ever single-season freshman (and third-best overall) mark in program history.
After capping her season with a 21-point performance against in the Mid-Con Tournament, Morris looks to grow into a leadership role as an underclassman this year for the Kangaroos.
Youth Is Served Again...
Currently the youngest head coach at the Division I level, Candace White-Whitaker is also one of the youngest head coaches in recent women's basketball history. At the time of her appointment as the interim head coach last year, White-Whitaker was just 26 years, 239 days old.
She comes from a strong background of young coaches, as her mentor at Valparaiso, Keith Freeman, made his entry into the profession at the tender age of 19. Freeman helmed the women's basketball team at Huntington (Ind.) College during the 1983-84 season.
Although impressive, White-Whitaker isn't even the youngest head coach at her own institution. That honor belongs to Meredith Smith, head softball coach, who was a mere 25 years, 166 days old at the time of her appointment.
UMKC has a history of taking a chance on young coaches, as no fewer than nine coaches have been appointed before their 30th birthday. Angela Garbe was the youngest, taking the reins of the women's tennis team in September 1991 at the age of 22 years, 264 days.
Texas Home Cooking
In addition to his local ties - he served as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri from 1998 to 2000 - associate head coach Brett Schneider claims the same hometown as head coach Candace White-Whitaker. A strong recruiter, Schneider has a strong family background in basketball, as his father Bob claimed over 1,000 victories over a 43-year career. His brother, Brandon, currently serves as head women's basketball coach for Emporia State University, while his sister, Brooke, was a letterwinner at West Texas A&M.
Klein, Morris Tabbed As Preseason All-Summit Stars
UMKC landed two players on all-conference teams during the preseason polling of coaches, media and sports information directors in The Summit League. Alysa Klein was tabbed as a first team honoree, while Chazny Morris was named to the second team.
The Kangaroos fell two spots in this year's preseason rankings, as they were predicted to finish seventh out of the league's 10 teams. Oral Roberts was again selected as the preseason favorite despite garnering only 10 first-place votes to 14 for debutantes South Dakota State University.
Kangaroos Add Two During Early Signing Period
UMKC head coach Candace White-Whitaker announced two additions to the Kangaroo roster for the 2008-09 season during the early signing period. Heather Davis and Mariah Davis (no relation) will both continue their playing careers and education at UMKC.
Heather Davis, a 5-7 guard from Muskogee, Okla., earned preseason second-team all-state honors from Oklahoma Tipoff magazine this year, following up on a second-team all-conference season as a junior.
Mariah Davis, a 6-0 forward from Hercules, Calif., averaged a double-double (13.5 pts, 10.4 reb) last season for Hercules High School, adding 94 blocks, 31 assists and 29 steals to pace her team to a second-place finish in the North Coast Section Division III tournament. Davis was tabbed as a first team all-league selection as well as earning all-tournament team honors at the River City Classic.
Kangaroo Recruiting Class Ranked 38th In The Nation
UMKC's 2007 recruiting class was ranked the 38th-best in the nation by the Dan Olson Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. This is the first time that a UMKC women's basketball recruiting class has been recognized by a national publication.
Kangaroos On The Web
New for the 2007-08 season, fans can now watch all of the action of UMKC women's basketball via Summit TV. All of UMKC's non-conference home games as well as every game of the inaugural season in The Summit League will stream live through the World Wide Web as part of the Summit TV package. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.thesummitleague.org and click on the “Summit TV” icon. A full-season package is just $49.95, with individual game purchases also available. As part of the full-season package, fans will also have access to “On-Demand” games, allowing fans to watch any game from the 2007-08 season.
Reaching For New Heights
The 2007-08 season marks the first for The Summit League, formerly known as the Mid-Continent Conference. The name change is part of a larger initiative, called The Summit Plan, launched by the league's President's Council in June 2007. The initiative looks to improve the overall athletic image of the conference and bring a more intense focus to the overall welfare of the student-athletes at the member institutions.
In addition to the name change, the league welcomes three new schools to the mix for the 2007-08 season. IPFW, North Dakota State University and South Dakota State University join the conference to push its ranks to 10. Valparaiso, a founding member of the conference, departed for the Horizon League at the conclusion of the 2006-07 academic year.
