Kansas City
Utah Valley
'Roos Dismiss Wolverines In WAC Play
1/23/2014 9:44:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – Senior Kim Nezianya scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 15 rebound to lead the Kansas City women's basketball team (7-12, 3-2) to a Western Athletic Conference win on Thursday night over Utah Valley (3-15, 0-5) at the Swinney Recreation Center.
“I was guarded by a bigger defender tonight, so I knew counter moves would be my biggest weapon,” Nezianya said. “I tried to use my quickness to get around the basket and it worked out tonight. We need to keep this momentum going and have confidence heading into the next game and know that when we play collectively, we can get wins.”
Classmate Eilise O'Connor narrowly missed a triple-double, scoring 24 points to go along with eight assists and eight rebounds in the victory.
“We got two incredible performances by two of our seniors,” Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “Not only did they play within themselves, but they also looked to set up their teammates whenever they could. We needed this win to get back on track and get some confidence. We always know when things are tough, our seniors are going to lead the way.”
The 'Roos fell behind in the opening minutes of the game 9-4, but O'Connor knocked down a jumper and sophomore Jordan Evans followed with back-to-back layups to jump start a 13-0 run for Kansas City putting them in front 17-9.
UMKC stretched the lead to a first half-high of 12 at 25-23 after scoring seven straight when Nezianya connected on a three-point play and O'Connor followed with two straight jumpers.
The Wolverines would tighten the gap to four at 39-35, but Nezianya hit two jumpers to close the half, sending the Kangaroos to the locker room up 43-35.
Coming out of the break, the 'Roos built the lead to 11 at the 16:28 mark, but were unable to pull away until sophomore Kelsey Barnwell and freshman Calli White buried back-to-back threes midway through the half to push the lead to 12 at 66-54.
Freshman Grace Mitchell followed with consecutive baskets and White added two more threes, extending the lead to 17 with just under five minutes to go.
UMKC would go on to lead by as many as 19 before coming away with the 83-66 win.
White finished with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc and three assists, while as a team, UMKC out-rebounded the Wolverines 41-32 and limited them to just 38.7 percent shooting, including 21.4 percent from long range.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Saturday when they welcome in Bakersfield to the Swinney Recreation Center for a 2 p.m. WAC showdown.
“We are excited to get the win tonight, but Saturday's game brings a completely different style of play,” Frese added. “We have to keep our focus and realize they are all different and count as one win or one loss.”
