Kansas City
4-4
Missouri State
7-1
Ajak's Career-High not Enough for Women's Basketball vs. #19 MSU
12/1/2019 4:33:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Kansas City women's basketball team had trouble finding the hoop and keeping the no. 19 team in the nation off of the offensive glass in Sunday's matchup with Missouri State, falling 83-58.
"We didn't play as hard as we needed to," Head Coach Jacie Hoyt said. "Whether you play a Top 20 team in the country or a non-DI team, you have to play hard and I don't feel like we did that today."
Awal Ajak dropped a career-high 17 points with the help of of 5-8 three-point shooting (62.5 %). 14 of those points came in the first half, as she helped keep the Roos in the game multiple times. It was Ajak's second double-digit scoring performance in the past three games after doing so only once last season.
"She has to keep the mindset of hunting shots in practice," Hoyt said. "She's been doing a good job of getting in the gym on her own and being aggressive in practice and it's paying off."
The difference in the game was not made in field goal efficiency, as the Bears outshot the Roos by just two percentage points. The problem was the amount of shots that Missouri State had. They out rebounded the Roos 18-5 on the offensive ends and put up eight more shot attempts than Kansas City.
Kansas City's defense gave the Bears fits at points, forcing 15 turnovers, but that was nullified by 21 Roo turnovers. Every player that stepped onto the court for the Roos gave the ball away at least once, resulting in 24 Missouri State points.
"Missouri State plays to their strengths, they play as a team and they play extremely hard," Hoyt said. "They taught us the pace that we have to play at and the toughness we have to play with."
The Roos will regroup before traveling to Omaha for a clash with the Mavericks on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Game Notes
Cristina Soriano and Ericka Mattingly joined Ajak in double digits, scoring 12 apiece … The Roos connected on eight three-point attempts, their fourth game in a row with at least eight triples … Ajak's six field goals set a career-high, she had matched her previous season-high with 14 points by halftime … Naomie Alnatas scored her first field goal in a Kansas City uniform with 2:38 remaining in the game
