Kansas City
Southern Utah
Stifling UMKC Defense Leads ?Roos To 64-46 Win over Southern Utah
1/30/2012 8:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Senior Dayon Hall-Jones led the 'Roos offensive attack with 19 points, while junior Kim Nezianya was the only other Kangaroo in double figures with 10. On the glass, three 'Roos finished with a team-high six rebounds, including Hall-Jones, senior Brianna Eldridge and sophomore Eilise O'Connor.
As a team, 11 Kangaroos cracked the scoreboard, while 12 saw action in the contest.
The 'Roos opened up an early 5-1 advantage when O'Connor buried a three from the top of the key on the opening possession and Nezianya drilled a jumper from the right baseline.
A Thunderbird field goal cut the lead to two, but senior LeAndrea Thomas knocked down a three from the left wing to jump start a 16-2 run, increasing the Kangaroos lead to 21-5 with 6:37 left in the first half.
During the stretch, the 'Roos limited Southern Utah to just one field goal over a span of nearly 10 minutes, while forcing seven Thunderbird turnovers.
A Southern Utah jumper ended the UMKC rally, but back-to-back baskets by O'Connor and Eldridge started an 8-1 UMKC run that put the Kangaroos up by a half-high 21 with 1:40 on the clock.
Two free throws by Southern Utah put the home team in double digits, but senior Mariah Scaife would knock down a turn around jumper on the final possession of the half to give the 'Roos a 31-10 lead heading into halftime.
The 10 points by SUU was the fewest the 'Roos have allowed in a half all season, eclipsing the 20 points allowed in the second half to Louisiana-Monroe.
Coming out of the break, Nezianya drilled a three and sophomore Ashli Hill knocked down a jumper to push the lead to 25, but Southern Utah scored eight of the next 10 points to cut the lead to 20.
Sophomore Hailey Houser ended the Thunderbird run with a three-point play, but back-to-back SUU field goals had Southern Utah trailing by 19 with 14:16 left to play.
UMKC would answer the T-Bird spurt with five points on their next three possessions to take a 46-23 lead, but two straight Southern Utah baskets again had the home team trailing by 19.
After a Jade Tinner free throw and a jumper by Nezianya extended the advantage to 23, the two squads would trade baskets until the 'Roos built a 25 point lead with 5:53 remaining in the contest.
The Thunderbirds would pull to within 18 at the 3:02 mark, but could not get any closer as the Kangaroos would claim the 64-46 Summit League victory on the road.
In the game, 52 combined fouls were issued, including three flagrant fouls and one technical foul, while the Kangaroo defense forced 26 turnovers.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Saturday when they visit Vermillion, S.D., to take on first year Summit League member South Dakota at 5 p.m.
