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Kansas City
New Mexico State
Waldron?s Career-High Not Enough As ?Roos Fall To Aggies
2/7/2015 4:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Las Cruces, N.M.) – Samantha Waldron scored a career-high 17 points and Calli White added 15 of her own as the Missouri-Kansas City women's basketball team fell 78-59 on Saturday afternoon to New Mexico State at the Pan American Center.
“Obviously I'm disappointed in the turnovers today,” Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “It's been something we've struggled with, and with injuries this year creating a short bench, early foul trouble is tough for us. I was proud of how they battled to start the second half but we have to show that type of grit to start the game.”
Waldron finished 7-of-9 from the field, including 2-of-3 from long range and White was 5-of-10 from the field and 4-of-8 from deep leading to a season-high of 53.3 percent shooting as a team, including a season-high 50.0 percent from three-point range, as the 'Roos fall to 4-19 on the year and 2-6 in the WAC.
“We really need to improve on turnovers,” Waldron said. “We needed to handle their press break better and if we did, the outcome may have been a different. For me, today my shots were just falling.”
The Aggies, who improve to 15-6 overall and a perfect 8-0 in WAC play, opened with 10 of the game's first 11 points, but the 'Roos fought back to close the gap to 16-13 after a White three and a jumper by Aries Washington.
NMSU answered with a 21-7 run to stretch the lead to a first-half-high 19 with 4:03 to go in the half, but Grace Mitchell closed with the half's final four points to trim the lead to 39-24 heading into halftime.
Coming out the locker room, the 'Roos cut the lead to seven when White followed a Waldron layup with back-to-back threes, putting UMKC on 12-0 running spanning the break.
New Mexico State halted the rally with five straight but back-to-back jumpers down low from Taylor Leathers and Kiana Law once again cut the lead to single digits at 44-36.
A 29-7 run by the Aggies pushed the lead to a game-high 22 with White's fourth three of the game and a Waldron layup standing as the 'Roos lone field goals during the stretch.
The Kangaroos would bring the lead inside 20 with a 7-1 run that included four points from Waldron and cut the lead to 17, but UMKC would get no closer as New Mexico State came away with the 78-59 WAC victory.
Individually, Mitchell finished just shy of a double-double with eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
As a team, UMKC outrebounded NMSU 33-26, but was undone by their season-high 33 turnovers that led to 42 points for the Aggies.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again next Saturday when they welcome in Chicago State to the Swinney Recreation Center for a 2 p.m. contest on Feb. 14.
