Kangaroos Squander Nine-Point Second-Half Lead, Fall 56-51 To IUPUI

Monday, January 7

Kansas City, Mo. (Swinney)

7:00 p.m. CT

Kansas City

IUPUI

Kangaroos Squander Nine-Point Second-Half Lead, Fall 56-51 To IUPUI

1/7/2008 10:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: UMKC Athletics

Kansas City, Mo -- Looking to snap back from its first home loss of the season, UMKC hosted IUPUI at Swinney Recreation Center on Monday night. The Kangaroos built a nine-point lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half but fell to the Jaguars 56-51.

UMKC darted out to a 6-2 lead courtesy of three straight buckets in the paint. Sierra Radke, Lindsay Fields and Alysa Klein each put away easy buckets inside of the first two minutes.

After a quick start, the Kangaroos ran into a cold spell, missing their next four efforts from the floor and coughing up three turnovers over a five-minute span.

IUPUI rattled off eight unanswered points during the stretch to take a 4-point lead with 14:01 left in the half. But for five misses by the Jaguars over the same span, the Kangaroos could have found themselves in a 16-point hole.

Klein dropped in a layup off the break with 13:15 left in the half to snap UMKC's drought. The Kangaroos clawed back to take a one-point lead, with Sarah Stewart stretching the margin to 19-17 with UMKC's first trey of the game with 5:55 left in the half.

IUPUI fired back with a six-point spurt, but UMKC was able to knot the score at 23-23 with just over a minute left. Neither team would hit over the final minute, going into the locker room tied.

Coming out of the intermission, neither team was able to find a strong pace from the floor, trading the lead back and forth for the first five minutes.

UMKC found its touch first, as Stewart fired up a wide-open trey with 13:14 left in the game to spark a 13-1 UMKC run. Despite IUPUI's full-court press, The freshman drained three triples and handed out an assist during the spurt, seeing the Kangaroos take a 43-34 lead with 9:29 left.

The Kangaroos held on to the lead for the next three minutes but would eventually succumb to IUPUI's high-pressure defense. Back-to-back three-pointers by the Jaguars and two turnovers by Klein allowed the visitors to take a 48-47 lead with 5:44 left in the game.

UMKC had one final chance with nine seconds left on the clock, but Radke got tangled up cutting through traffic in the lane and fell to the floor, turning the ball over. IUPUI converted the fast-break layup for the final margin.

Klein led all scorers in the game with 20 points, falling just shy of a double-double on the night with nine rebounds. Stewart chipped in 14 for the Kangaroos, with Radke handing out eight assists.

Nicole James led IUPUI with 18 points, with Julia Whitted adding 11 and Christina Cunningham chipping in 10. Jernisha Cann grabbed 11 rebounds on the night.

UMKC had a better shooting percentage on the night, hitting 21 of its 48 shots for a 43.8 percent mark to IUPUI's 20-of-56 (35.7 percent) clip. The Jaguars were better from the free throw line, but won the game after forcing UMKC into 12 second-half turnovers. IUPUI converted 17 points off turnovers in the second half to just three for UMKC.

The Kangaroos (7-8, 0-4 Summit) wrap up their four-game homestand on Saturday against Southern Utah. The contest is set for a 4 p.m. tip off at Municipal Auditorium and is the first half of a doubleheader with the UMKC men.