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Ivory's Hot Hand Pushes Women's Basketball Past EWU
12/20/2019 6:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Mattingly Puts up Double-Double, Johnson Drops Season-High
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City women's basketball team opened up play in the fourth Roo Holiday Classic on Friday afternoon, matching up with Eastern Washington in its first of two games this weekend. The Roos overcame a slow start, catching fire from three and running past the Eagles, 66-55.
Offense was hard to come by for the Roos in the first frame, but they were saved by Jonaie Johnson, who had earned her third consecutive start. Johnson scored the Roos' first six points, keeping them in the game and finishing with a season-high 12 points and dishing out a game-high five assists.
"She's a very complete player right now," Head Coach Jacie Hoyt said. "The way that she's been playing in games is a complete reflection of what she's been doing in practice for us. She just works so hard."
The Roos had trouble stopping the Eagles on the defensive end in the first half. Eastern Washington shot 7-15 in each of the first two quarters, taking a 34-33 lead into the half.
In the third quarter, Emily Ivory went unconscious. She knocked down three of three triples, finishing the game by tying her season-high with 20 points, shooting 6-of-10 from long range.
"My teammates kept feeding me the ball, they were giving me great passes," Ivory said. "I just keep on throwing them up and they go in."
Six threes were Ivory's most this season, besting her five triple performance against Portland State in the Preseason WNIT. She's no stranger to making threes in high volume, as she buried as many as eight in a game last season.
"She's the type of shooter that, every time she shoots, I think it's going in," Hoyt said.
Last Sunday against Kansas State, the Roos held a six-point lead in the fourth quarter before falling by seven. Once again, the Roos had control in the fourth quarter. They led by as many as 12 before the Eagles began whittling away. Eastern Washington cut the Roos' lead to five with 3:45 remaining on a second chance bucket by Bella Cravens.
This time, the Roos would not be denied. They closed the game on a 9-3 run, with Ivory's sixth three appropriately putting the icing on the cake.
"We just had to trust the process," Ivory said. "They're going to have runs, we're going to have runs, so we just had to stay on course."
Kansas City shut down the Eastern Washington offensive output in the second half, holding them to 20.6% shooting. The Roos were led by Tajah Foster-Walker, who pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds and blocked three shots.
"We all know how effective she can be on the glass for us," Hoyt said. "She really proved that today."
With the win, Kansas City moves back to .500, boasting a 6-6 record. Tomorrow, the Roos will have a chance to take on a very solid Liberty team that knocked Bradley off of its seven-game winning streak in Friday's first game.
"They know how to win," Hoyt said. "I think its going to be a 40-minute battle, but our players are up to the test."
Game Notes
For the first time this season, Ericka Mattingly had a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds). It is the 10th of her Kansas City career … The Roos connected on 10 three pointers, their first double-digit three point game since knocking down 11 against Portland State … With three blocks, Tajah Foster-Walker tracked her sixth multi-block game of the year. She has logged at least one in the Roos' last 10 games … For the second time this year, the rebounding battle ended deadlocked at 41-41. This also happened in the Roos' first game of the year against Denver … Kansas City took care of the ball, finishing with just eight turnovers, a season-low.
