Kansas City
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Western Michigan
Husa, Washington Reach Double-Digits as Roos fall to WMU
11/25/2016 5:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – UMKC women's basketball juniors Paige Husa (Fairbury, Neb.) and Aries Washington (Kansas City, Mo.) each scored 10 points off the bench in UMKC's opening game of the 2016 Plaza Lights Classic. The duo's efforts weren't enough to take down the Broncos, as UMKC fell 66-54 on Friday afternoon.
Making her first start this season for UMKC (1-3), graduate transfer Lyndsay Leikem (Tucson, Ariz.) knocked down a jumper from the elbow for the game's first points. Western Michigan (2-2) used a 7-0 to take its biggest lead of the first quarter at 12-5 forcing UMKC to use a timeout.
The timeout propelled the Roos to an 8-2 run, including a three-pointer from junior Samantha Waldron (Omaha, Neb.) to cut the lead to one, and a jumper from Washington with six seconds on the clock to give UMKC its first lead since the opening bucket from Leikem.
UMKC scored six-straight points to open the second quarter, extending its run to 14-2 and going up by as much as seven points before the Broncos scored their first basket with 5:52 left on the clock. The Roos held the lead through the remainder of the half, as both teams were held scoreless in the final two minutes of the quarter.
With a 25-23 lead at the beginning of the second half, the Roos and Broncos battled things out through the entire third quarter, with three ties and three lead changes, but it was the Broncos that held the lead at the end of the third, 44-41.
Western Michigan extended its lead to seven at the 7:26 mark in the fourth, and the Roos were never able to get closer than five after that. The Broncos outscored UMKC 22-13 in the final 10 minutes of the game, giving the Roos their third loss of the year.
“I think our full-court pressure is giving some teams problems early in game, we are definitely able to take teams out of their rhythm with it,” head coach Marsha Frese said. “We have to find a way to solve our fourth quarter problems. I don't know if it is fatigue or hitting a wall earlier than we need to, but we definitely didn't have the energy that we needed to finish this game.”
UMKC looks to bounce back on Saturday against Morgan State. The Roos are scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. CT tip against the Bears in the final game of the 2016 Plaza Lights Classic.
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