Kansas City
Grand Canyon
Second Half Rally Falls Short As ?Roos Fall In Phoenix
2/1/2014 2:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Phoenix, Ariz.) – The Kansas City women's basketball team (7-14, 3-5) trimmed an 18 point deficit to six late in the second half but was unable to come away with win, falling 74-63 to Grand Canyon (15-6, 5-4) in WAC play at the GCU Arena.
“I'm proud of the girls for competing,” Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “We talked about how you have to play hard for 40 minutes and we definitely did that. We had an opportunity to call it a day when we were down 18, but we battled and worked hard to get back in the game. There are going to be days when you aren't hitting shots, but our effort was there and to beat a team like Grand Canyon on the road that's what we have to do.”
Kim Nezianya led the 'Roos with 22 points and 11 rebounds, including 18 points and 10 rebounds in the second half, for her league leading 10th double-double of the season, while Eilise O'Connor added 16 points and seven rebounds and Jordan Evans matched her career-high in scoring, finishing with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
In the opening half, GCU scored the game's first five points, before O'Connor and Nezianya connected on back-to-back baskets to bring the 'Roos to within one.
The 'Roos would go on to take their first lead of the game at 10-9 when O'Connor knocked down a pair of free throws, but after trading baskets, GCU went on a 15-4 to take a 26-16 lead with 6:01 left in the first period.
Nezianya ended the Lopes' rally with a 15-foot jumper, but UMKC would add just six more points down the stretch as Grand Canyon headed to the locker room with a 38-24 lead.
Coming out of the break, Nezianya struck first for the 'Roos, but GCU answered back with six straight to stretch the lead to 44-28 with 17:41 on the clock.
Nezianya ended the rally with Kansas City's next four points, but GCU matched the 'Roos keeping the lead at 16.
The Lopes would build their lead to 18 before a layup from Evans started a 6-2 run by the 'Roos that Kelsey Barnwell capped with a steal and breakaway layup, cut the lead to 56-42 with just over nine minutes left in the contest.
Grand Canyon extended the cushion back to 16 when the 'Roos began to claw their way back into the game, scoring eight of the next 10 points to cut the lead to 60-50.
Grand Canyon answered with a three, but Nezianya and O'Connor buried jumpers and Calli White drilled a three from the right wing, giving UMKC seven straight in less than a minute, trimming the margin to 63-57 with just over four minutes remaining.
Kansas City, though, would be unable to get any closer as Grand Canyon came away with the win.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action in one week when they head to Chicago, Ill., to take on Chicago State in WAC play at 2 p.m.
