Kansas City
0-0,0-0WAC
NW Missouri State (Exhibition)
0-0,0-0Mid-America Intercollegiate
Women's Basketball Uses Balanced Scoring in Exhibition Win
10/29/2019 9:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Three Roos Finish with Double Digit Scoring
The Kansas City women's basketball team started off their 2019-20 season with a tuneup exhibition game against Northwest Missouri State, and were able to get things going on the right foot, with a 69-58 win.
The Bearcats had a defensive focus on Ericka Mattingly from the start, and rightfully so. The senior is coming off of a season in which she led the Western Athletic Conference in points, steals and assists. However, the Roos made sure to let teams know that the offense won't just run through Mattingly this season. Cristina Soriano led the team with 19 points, and Emily Ivory tacked on another 15 to supplement Mattingly's 18.
"(Soriano and Ivory) worked really hard in the offseason for that exact reason. They wanted to elevate their game and be more of a weapon to take some pressure off of Ericka," Head Coach Jacie Hoyt said. "I'm not surprised by their offensive production, because that's what I've seen them work for all offseason."
The Roos put an emphasis on defense in this game, knowing that offense was secondary, especially in the first game of the season. Kansas City held the Bearcats to just 15% shooting in the first quarter, and didn't let up for much of the game. NWMS finished the game with a 35% shooting clip.
"I told the players that whoever put their best foot forward on the defensive end and made me feel like they were ready to guard and wanted to guard would start," Hoyt said. "We, by scheme, wanted to get a good start defensively."
Kansas City owned the paint, outscoring the Bearcats to the tune of 50-10 in the lane. They found Soriano often, who used her size advantage to take care of the Bearcats.
Northwest Missouri State lived by the three, putting up 25 shots from long range and connecting on eight of those shots. The Roos were much more selective with their three point shooting, finishing the game with a 4-7 line from beyond the arc. Ivory finished a perfect 3-3 from three point range.
"I felt like we gave up too many threes," Hoyt said. "If we do that (against Denver), the game might look a little different for us. We still just have to get better on the defensive end."
Overall, Kansas City looked good in its first time on the court of the season. They will prepare to begin non-conference play next week at home against Denver on Nov. 5.
"The takeaways are that we had three players in double figures, we had 19 assists and we did have some really good defensive possessions, we just have to figure out how to finish those out by not fouling."
