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Kansas City
Texas-Pan American
Three ?Roos Reach Double Figures As UMKC Drops WAC Road Contest To Broncs
2/5/2015 8:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Edinburg, Texas) – Calli White, Grace Mitchell and Aries Washington all finished in double figures, as the Missouri Kansas City women's basketball team fell 69-51 on Thursday night to Texas-Pan American at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
“It took too long for us to adapt to the physicality of this game,” UMKC Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “Once we settled down, we did a much better job in the second half of working through it and executing our offense. We've seen every team in this conference now, so there are no more surprises. Hopefully, we can take the next step and compete against each team in the second half of our schedule.”
For Mitchell, her ten points are the fifth time in her last six games that she has reached double figures, while Aries Washington scored 10 or more points for the fourth time in her last five games, finishing with 10 points and a career-high tying nine rebounds.
White, meanwhile, led the 'Roos, who fall to 4-18 overall and 2-5 in the WAC, with 13 points, including knocking down all three of the Kangaroos' three-point field goals.
“We came out and we battled, but we have to have a different mindset on the road,” White said. “Against physical teams, we have to play physical with them. We can't play tentative and next time we won't. Coach Frese always says Saturday is a different game from Thursday. We need to execute, come ready to play, be physical and control what we can control.”
UTPA, who improves to 12-10 on the season and 5-2 in the conference, scored the game's first four points, but a pair of Grace Mitchell free throws and a free throw line jumper from Samantha Waldron knotted the score at 4-4.
UTPA would counter with the next basket, but Washington retied the game with two more UMKC free throws on the ensuing possession.
A 16-6 Bronc run then stretched the lead to 10, but back-to-back layups from freshmen Kiana Law and Waldron trimmed the lead down six at 22-16.
The 'Roos, however, were unable to get any closer during the opening stanza as Texas-Pan American built their lead to a first half-high 16 before White converted a layup to cut the deficit to 38-24 heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, UTPA went on a 7-2 run with two Law free throws standing as the lone Kangaroo points until White buried a long three from the left wing to beat the shot clock buzzer and followed with a second three on the ensuing UMKC possession to cut the deficit to 45-32.
Texas-Pan American, however, answered with a 14-4 run, as Taylor Leathers knocked down the two UMKC baskets during the stretch.
White's third three of the half, a layup from Mitchell and back-to-back baskets from Washington ended the rally and brought the lead down to 14 with just over seven minutes left in the contest.
Four straight by the Broncs pushed the lead back to 18, before a steal and breakaway layup from Mitchell, followed by a second straight layup from Mitchell off a Waldron assist brought it down to 63-49 with 2:41 left on the clock.
UMKC, though, would manage just a Waldron layup the rest of the way as UTPA held on for the 69-51 win.
Defensively, UMKC limited the Broncs to just 37.9 percent shooting from the field, but allowed an opponent season-high 11 three point baskets in the loss.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Saturday when they kick-off the second half of the WAC schedule with a trip to Las Cruces, N.M., to take on New Mexico State at 3 p.m. CT on Feb. 7.
