Kansas City
Western Illinois
Leathernecks Brave Weather To Take Down 'Roos
2/22/2013 4:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The loss drops the 'Roos to 9-18 overall and 5-9 in Summit League play, while Western Illinois improves to 12-14 overall and 5-8 in the league.
"A lot of our effort today came down to pride," Kansas City Head Coach Marsha Frese said. "We have to do a better job of starting games with the tempo that we want to dictate. Credit to Western Illinois - they didn't have a lot of prep; they weren't able to get out of their hotel last night. They came in and they were ready to go."
Junior Eilise O'Connor was the only 'Roos to finish in double figures, scoring 17 points to go along with five rebounds.
Senior guard Emile Blakesley, meanwhile, added a career-high eight rebounds, while junior center Ashli Hill chipped in five points, six rebounds and two blocks.
In the contest, the 'Roos built a 4-2 lead after back-to-back baskets by O'Connor, but 14 straight by Western Illinois gave the visitors a 16-4 lead midway through the half.
The Leathernecks went on to build their lead to a first half high of 21, but the 'Roos scored the half's final seven points to cut the deficit to 32-18 heading into the locker room.
Coming out of halftime, Western Illinois extended the lead to 18, but an 8-1 run by Kansas City, including six by O'Connor, brought the 'Roos to within 11 at the 11:48 mark of the second half.
The lead would stay at 11 a minute and a half later, when WIU went on a 13-3 run to extend the lead back to 21.
Kansas City would get no closer than 19 the rest of the way and Western Illinois came away with the 63-38 victory.
"We can't focus on the things we can't control," Frese added. "IUPUI is going to be here at 2:00 whether we're ready or not. We need to control what we can control and be ready to go."
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again tomorrow when they welcome in IUPUI to Kansas City for a 2 p.m. Summit League contest in the Swinney Recreation Center.
