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Kansas City
Grand Canyon
Mitchell & Law's Double-Doubles Not Enough As 'Roos Fall To Lopes
1/29/2015 10:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Kansas City. Mo.) – Grace Mitchell recorded her third double-double of the season, finishing with team-high's of 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 11 rebounds, with Kiana Law also notching her third of the season, tallying 11 points and 10 rebounds as the Kansas City women's basketball team fell 65-59 to Grand Canyon on Thursday night at the Swinney Recreation Center in WAC play.
“We have been working on position rebounding and finding a body,” Mitchell said. “We were aggressive on the boards and got after it. Going into Saturday we need to work on our mindset and worry about the things we can control. We need to value the basketball, tonight we took care of business on the glass, but we need to take of the basketball. We are all we have and that is all we need.”
With the loss, UMKC drops to 3-17 overall and 1-4 in WAC play, while the Lopes improve to 8-10 on the season and 2-3 in the conference.
For Mitchell and Law, it was the third time in the last four games that they have grabbed 10+ rebounds and the second time in four games that they both recorded double-doubles in the same game after accomplishing the feat on Jan. 17 at Chicago State.
A third 'Roo, Aries Washington, meanwhile, nearly missed her first career double-double after registering 12 points and a career-high nine of the 'Roos 45 caroms. Officially, UMKC outrebounded the Lopes 45-20, with the +25 margin standing as the highest of the season for the 'Roos.
UMKC opened up with the game's first six points after Samantha Waldron found Mitchell down low and Washington connected on back-to-back baskets.
The 'Roos continued to lead until the 7:15 mark when the Lopes tied the score at 16-16, but Waldron answered with threes on two straight possessions, pushing the lead back to six.
The lead would sit at five with a minute and half to play in the half, but GCU closed out the opening stanza on 7-1 run to take a 28-27 lead into the break.
Coming out of the locker room, Washington scored the first four points of the half to put UMKC back in front by three, but GCU scored 12 of the next 14 points to retake the lead by eight.
The Lopes would stretch the lead to 10, but UMKC would begin to chip away, eventually cutting the deficit to just four with 2:10 on the clock after a Law jumper.
The Kangaroos, however, would be unable to get any closer as the Lopes held on for a 65-59 victory.
As a team, UMKC outscored GCU 28-18 in the paint and tied their season-high with 15 assists, while limiting the Lopes to just 38.8 percent shooting from the field.
Individually, Waldron was the fourth 'Roos to finish in double figures, notching 11 points, including hitting 3-of-4 from long range, five rebounds and three assists.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Saturday when they welcome in Utah Valley to the SRC for a 2 p.m. WAC contest.
