Kansas City
UTRGV
Kangaroos Upset Vaqueros In Edinburg
2/13/2016 7:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – Samantha Waldron scored 16 points and Taylor Leathers chipped in 12 in UMKC women's basketball's 59-57 upset of UTRGV on Saturday afternoon in Edinburg, Texas.
“What an effort!” UMKC Head Coach Marsha Frese said. “I'm so proud of how we competed in the second half and gave ourselves an opportunity to win. The second half was all about staying focused and executing as a team and we committed to doing that. Our best basketball has not been played yet. I'm so excited to see us continue to work and build on games like this.”
Waldron finished the day knocking down 6-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-4 from long range, to go with team-bests of five rebounds and four steals, while Ceidra Coleman paced the team with a career-high eight assists and five rebounds.
With the win, UMKC moves to 9-14 overall and 4-6 in the WAC, just two games out of second place, while UTRGV falls to 14-11 on the season and 6-4 in the conference.
The 'Roos found themselves in a hole early, trailing by five after the first quarter and a game-high 12 midway through the second stanza before eventually heading into the locker room trailing 30-19 at halftime.
Coming out of the break, Waldron quickly brought the lead back to within single digits, but the Vaqueros pushed the lead back to 12 at the 5:24 mark of the third.
From there, however, the 'Roos quickly flipped the script with Kelsey Barrett and Leathers each burying threes.
Two Barrett free throws cut the lead down to four and after the lead grew back to six, Coleman found Leathers for a jumper and Waldron capped the quarter with two free throws to make it a two point game heading into the final period.
Kiana Law opened the fourth with a basket, immediately tying the game and two possessions later Waldron drilled a three to give the 'Roos their first lead of the game at 45-43 just under two minutes into the quarter.
A three-point play put UTRGV back in front, but 10 of the next 12 point went the Kangaroos' way with back-to-back Paige Husa baskets extending the advantage to a game-high at 55-48.
The Vaqueros, however, battled back to tie the game with just 36 seconds remaining, but free throws by Law and Aries Washington put UMKC ahead for good with a stop on the defensive end sealing the win for Kansas City.
As a team, UMKC out-rebounded the Vaqueros 39 to 32 and outscored them off the bench 16-4 with Barrett and Kristen Moore each scoring five.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Thursday when they welcome in Grand Canyon to the Swinney Recreation Center for a 7 p.m. WAC showdown.
