Women?s Hoops Set to Host Roo Holiday Classic
12/18/2016 1:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – UMKC women's basketball will welcome Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois and South Dakota to Swinney Recreation Center, Dec. 19-20, for the 2016 Roo Holiday Classic.
The Roos will face Southern Illinois on Monday at 3 p.m. CT in the opening game of the tournament, with Northern Illinois and South Dakota squaring off at 5:30. South Dakota and Southern Illinois are scheduled for a 1 p.m. tipoff on Tuesday, with UMKC and Northern Illinois playing in the Holiday Classic finale at 3:30 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets for the tournament are available to purchase through UMKCKangaroos.com/Tickets or at the Swinney Rec. box office on game day. Single-game tickets start at $7, and general admission season tickets can be purchased for $50, while courtside tickets begin at $75.
Follow
Live video streams will be available for the UMKC games at UMKCKangaroos.com/LiveEvents and live radio will be available at the same link. Live stats for all games of the tournament can be found at UMKCStats.com.
About the Roos
UMKC (5-4) is led in scoring by junior Samantha Waldron (Omaha, Neb.), who is averaging 11.7 points per game, shooting 40.2 percent (37-for-92) from the field, including 41.7 percent (20-for-48) from behind the three-point arc. Junior Kiana Law (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is leading the team in boards, grabbing 7.1 per game.
Redshirt junior India Johnson (Overland Park, Kan.) was the star of the show in UMKC's road win over Abilene Christian on Dec. 3, scoring a game-high 19 points, including 14 in the second half and overtime. She shot 53.8 percent (7-for-13) from the floor, knocking down five three-pointers, including the game-winner in overtime with 1.7 seconds remaining.
In a big road win at Wichita State on Tuesday, Nov. 11, Law hit a shot in the lane with 1.2 seconds left in the game to give UMKC the 56-54 victory. Waldron scored a career-high 22 points in the game, knocking down 4-of-8 three points shots.
Waldron's performance against the Shockers earned her the College Sports Madness WAC Player of the Week honor on Monday, Nov. 11.
In UMKC's season opener against Tulsa, three Roos reached double figures. Law notched a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds), Moore scored 16, and Lyndsay Leikem (Tucson, Ariz.) contributed 13 points off the bench.
UMKC returns 11 letterwinners and four starters from last season, including 2016 Media All-WAC Preseason First-Team honoree Aries Washington (Kansas City, Mo). She averaged 11.2 points per game a season ago, and with the return of Law and Waldron, the Roos return the bulk of their scoring load. Law averaged 10 points for the Roos in 2015-16, and Waldron put up 9.3 points per game and a team-high 12.3 in conference games.
Up Next
The Roos will embark on a four-game road trip, starting on Dec. 28 against La Salle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before heading to Long Island, New York, to face Stony Brook on New Year's Eve. UMKC will then travel to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Edinburg, Texas, to start WAC play against New Mexico State and UT Rio Grande Valley, Jan. 5 and 7, respectively.
For more information on UMKC Women's Basketball, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
– UMKC –
