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Kansas City
Texas-Pan American
?Roos Give Broncs All They Can Handle In 61-50 WAC Championship Loss
3/11/2015 11:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Las Vegas, Nev.) – Kiana Law and Sierra Bone combined to score 20 of the 'Roos 22 points off the bench, as the Missouri-Kansas City women's basketball team fell 61-50 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the WAC Championship at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
“We aren't happy with the final score, but I'm really proud of our team this year,” UMKC Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “I think back to where this team started this season, in particular our freshmen class. We are a whole different team. I'm really proud of how hard they came to work every day and how much they wanted to learn. I'm excited about where this program is going in the future.”
Law finished the game with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds to narrowly miss her sixth double-double and Bone added nine points, making 2-of-4 from long range, three assists and three rebounds, while Paige Husa added the 'Roos last two bench points.
“I learned a lot this season,” Law said. “We will keep getting better every day and be ready to go next season.”
Calli White, meanwhile, led the 'Roo offense with 12 points, including hitting 2-of-5 from three-point range.
“The growth of this team was phenomenal,” White said. “From the first game to the last, we have all improved so much. We are going to keep fighting. We are not going to give up. You could see that in the first half, we are fighters. We are going to continue to fight and come back next year.”
The Broncs jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the early going, but the 'Roos stormed back to close the gap to 14-10 after a corner three from Bone.
The lead grew back to six, but Bone finished a layup and Husa converted a rebound put back to knock the Bronc lead down to three midway through the half.
A Samantha Waldron layup off backdoor pass from Bone kept the deficit at three and Bone followed with a free throw to bring it to 19-17.
UTPA once again extended the advantage to four, but Bone drained her second three of the half to make it a one point game with just under six minutes left in first period.
After four straight from the Broncs, the 'Roos closed the half of on a 7-0 run to take a 27-25 lead into halftime with Waldron, Law, Taylor Leathers and Aries Washington all contributing to the run.
Coming out of the break, UMKC stretched its run to 11-0 with the half's first four points, giving them their largest lead of the game at 31-26.
The Broncs, though, began a comeback of their own, reclaiming the lead at 33-32 with seven of the next eight before a White layup flipped the lead back into the 'Roos favor.
The lead, however, would be UMKC's last as Texas-Pan American would go on to build its advantage to a game-high 13 before taking the 61-50 victory.
As a team, UMKC limited UTPA to just 35.7 percent shooting from the field, including 27.8 percent from three, while shooting 45.2 percent themselves.
The loss closes out the 'Roos season at 6-24 overall, while the Broncs improve to 18-13 on the season and advance to the semifinals to take on Bakersfield.
