?Roos Close Out Home Slate With Senior Night Against Lopes
2/26/2014 9:17:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Site: Kansas City, Mo./Swinney Recreation Center
Television: none
Live Online Video: UMKCKangaroos.com – TJ Jackson (p-b-p), Steven St. John (color)
Radio: 102.9 FM – TJ Jackson (p-b-p), Steven St. John (color)
Live Online Audio: KCXL.com (Free) – TJ Jackson (p-b-p), Steven St. John (color)
Twitter: @TheUMKCKangaroos
The Game
The Kansas City women's basketball team (10-16, 6-7) returns to Kansas City for its final home game of the season when they welcome in Grand Canyon (17-8, 6-6) to the Swinney Recreation Center for Senior Night on Feb. 27. The 'Roos and the Lopes are slated for a 7 p.m. tip on Thursday in WAC play.
The Opponent
Grand Canyon enters the week with a 17-8 record overall and a 6-6 mark in WAC play, after splitting with Seattle (W) and Idaho (L). Kaitlyn Petersen leads the Lopes at 14.8 points, while Judy Jones (13.5), Deanna Daniels (13.3) and Johnna Brown (11.0) are each averaging double digits. On the glass, Jones leads the squad with 8.5 rebounds, with Brown chipping in 8.4. As a team, GCU is out-scoring opponents 69.9 to 61.6, while limiting opponents to 40.6 percent shooting from the field, including 30.1 percent from three-point range.
The Series
This will be the second meeting between the 'Roos and the Lopes with GCU winning earlier this season, 74-63 in Phoenix.
First Meeting
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.
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.
Grand Canyon
Series: Grand Canyon leads 1-0
Home: 0-0
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 0-0
Last Meeting: Grand Canyon won 74-63 on Feb. 1 in Phoenix.
Grand Canyon (0-1)
F1, 2014 (A) W, 63-74 Frese
The Coaches
Renowned for her top-notch recruiting classes, Marsha Frese enters her second season as head women's basketball coach at UMKC. Named as the Kangaroo head coach on April 25, 2012, Frese brings 16 seasons of experience as a Division-I player and coach to the UMKC campus.
Trent May is in his seventh season as head coach of the Grand Canyon University women's basketball team and is the program's all-time winningest coach. He has guided two schools, GCU and Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, to the best single-season records in their histories.
Last Time Out
The Kansas City women's basketball team (10-16, 6-7) fell 49-43 on Saturday afternoon against Utah Valley (6-20, 3-10) at the UCCU Center despite senior Kim Nezianya's 15 double-double of the season.
On the day, Nezianya led the 'Roos in both scoring and rebound, notching 18 points and 14 rebounds, while classmate Eilise O'Connor added 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. As a team, the 'Roos out-rebounded UVU 42-40 and finished a perfect 6-of-6 from the line, while defensively they limited the conference's leading three-point shooting team to just 14.3 percent in the contest.
Senior Trio
Hailey Houser, Eilise O'Connor and Kim Nezianya make up the 'Roos trio of seniors. In their career, they have combined to play 353 games with 219 starts, while scoring over 3,300 points, grabbing over 1,700 rebounds, handing out over 600 assists, with over 300 steals and 100 blocks.
O'Connor Named To 2013-14 CoSIDA Academic All-American
Senior Eilise O'Connor was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American Team for her efforts on and off the court. On the court, O'Connor's name is littered throughout the record book, while off the court, the San Francisco native holds a 3.99 GPA in Health Sciences.
WAC Leaders
The 'Roos currently lead the WAC in three categories: three-point FG defense (.268) and free throw percentage (.778), while sitting second in 3-Pt. FG% (.337) and scoring offense (74.5). The FT%, meanwhile, ranks seventh in the NCAA, while the team is 11th in the nation three-point defense and 52nd in scoring.
Individually, Eilise O'Connor is tops in the conference in scoring (21.3), second in free throw percentage (.874) and third in assists (4.5), while Kim Nezianya is second in rebounding (11.2) and fifth in scoring (16.4) and Calli White is fifth in 3-pt. FG per game (2.3) and in 3-pt.% (.369).
