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Kansas City
New Mexico State
Law?s Near Double-Double Not Enough Has ?Roos Drop WAC Opener
1/10/2015 5:33:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – Playing a career-high 31 minutes, Kiana Law nearly missed her second career double-double, as the freshman finished with team-high's of 16 points, on 7-of-10 shooting, and nine rebounds as the Missouri-Kansas City women's basketball team fell 60-48 in the Western Athletic Conference opener at the Swinney Recreation Center.
“Our team is learning and we are excited to see the progress of our young players, in particular Kiana Law,” Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “It was good to have Aries Washington back today, despite some of the rust she had, she always provides us with energy. We still need to keep learning. I'm disappointed how we handled New Mexico State's pressure, but it's something we can learn from and build on for the future.”
With the win, New Mexico State improves to 8-6 overall and 1-0 in the WAC, while the Kangaroos fall to 2-14 on the season and 0-1 in conference play.
Calli White added 15 points, including hitting four of her nine three-point attempts, and five assists, while defensively, UMKC limited the Aggies to just 44.2 percent shooting from the field, including 26.7 percent from long range.
“As a team we are starting to get a feel for one another,” Law said. “Our last game showed that we can compete, so this game we knew we would have to turn things up just a little bit more. Position rebounding was big for me today on the glass. Offensively, my teammates found me down low. We look for whoever has the hot hand and today that was me.”
In the opening half, UMKC struck first when White found a cutting Samantha Waldron for the layup, while the two teams battled close early as neither team held more than a three-point edge for the first 12 minutes of play.
NMSU would stretch the lead to five at 18-13, but a White free throw, followed by layup from Law off an assist from White, brought the lead back to two at 18-16.
New Mexico State, though, would outscore the 'Roos 9-4 over the final 6:29 to take a 27-20 lead into halftime.
Coming out of the break, NMSU quickly extended the lead to 11, but back-back-baskets from Waldron and Washington cut the lead back down to seven.
The Aggies would answer with a 13-5 run that stretched the lead to 15, but White quickly trimmed the lead back to single digits, hitting threes on two straight UMKC possessions.
Once again, New Mexico State would hold off the UMKC rally, as the Aggies twice built the lead to a game-high 16, before coming away with the 60-48 win in the WAC opener.
As a team, UMKC outrebounded New Mexico State 30 to 28, while the UMKC bench, led by Law, outscored the Aggie reserves 21 to 3.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action when they head to Chicago, Ill., for the WAC road opener against Chicago State at 2 p.m. on Jan. 17.
