Kansas City
Eastern Michigan
Eagles Outlast 'Roos In Michigan
12/7/2013 12:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball
“We did a good job of taking advantage of our opportunities on the glass,” Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “When you get those extra opportunities, you have to capitalize on them by taking care of the ball also. Unfortunately, today we weren't able to capitalize on our success on the boards and translate those into points.”
Strickland finished 5-of-6 from the field with five rebounds, with Kelsey Barnwell adding 12 points and career-highs of seven rebounds and five assists.
“We did a really good job of attacking the basket when we needed to,” Barnwell said. “They put a lot of pressure on us so we needed to get to the rim and we did that, but we also need to do a lot better job of taking care of the ball and staying composed down the stretch.”
Eilise O'Connor, meanwhile, added 12 points, four rebounds and four assists and freshman Grace Mitchell was the final 'Roo in double figures, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds, while Lauren Dudding hit 3-of-4 from beyond the arc for nine points against the Eagles (6-0).
Kansas City fell behind early in the contest 4-0, before reeling off the next 10 points, including four from O'Connor during the run, but the Eagles answered with a 15-2 run, scoring all 15 on three-point field goals, putting EMU in front 19-12 with 11:33 left in the first half.
The Eagle maintained their seven-point advantage at 25-18 when Lauren Dudding drilled a three from the left corner cutting the lead to four, while freshman Taylor Strickland followed with a layup before burying a three from the top of the key that tied the game at 26 with just over six minutes to play in the half.
EMU, though, scored the next eight points before Hailey Houser stopped the rally with a pair of free throws, cutting the margin to 34-28.
The two teams traded a pair of field goals each over the final minutes of the half, sending them to the locker room with the Eagles leading 39-32.
Coming out of the break, Eastern Michigan opened up a game-high 10 point lead at 48-38, but three straight baskets from beyond the arc from the 'Roos cousin combo of Kelsey Barnwell (one) and Dudding (two) pulled UMKC to within one at 48-47 with 11:34 on the clock.
Eastern Michigan extended their cushion back to seven, but five straight from Barnwell sliced the lead to 54-52.
After trading field goals, EMU stretched the lead to 61-54, before a jumper from O'Connor brought the lead back to five.
Eastern Michigan answered with the next three point, extending their cushion eight, but eight of the next 11 went UMKC's way, cutting the lead to 67-64 with just under three minutes left to play.
The Eagles answered with three free throws on the next two possessions, but Calli White found Taylor Leathers open in the lane to bring the 'Roos to within four at 70-66 with 1:18 on the clock.
The 'Roos, though, would get no closer and EMU would connect on five free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 75-66 victory.
“Hopefully our younger players learned that they are good enough to play in pressure packed situations when our upperclassmen are out,” Frese added. “We have to learn to adapt when it's necessary and at any given moment, the young kids have to learn that it could be there time. I think you saw that out of Lauren Dudding today, she stepped up when we needed her the most.”
On the glass, Kansas City out-rebounded EMU 50-40, while limiting the Eagles to just one three-point field goal in the second half.
“Going into the game, we knew that they crashed the boards really hard on the offensive and defensive end,” Barnwell added. “We knew rebounding would be a key for us to win and we came out and rebounded well.”
The Blue & Gold will be off until next Sunday when they welcome in Texas Southern to the Swinney Recreation Center for a 1 p.m. contest on Dec. 15.
