Preview: Women's Basketball Geared Up for Lancers

Saturday, January 25

Kansas City, MO

2:00 PM

Kansas City

California Baptist

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Preview: Women's Basketball Geared Up for Lancers

1/23/2020 5:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game Notes Tickets

Season Highlights

The Roos are back from a short break on Saturday to take on California Baptist in their only game this week.
Last Saturday, Kansas City used a career-high scoring day by Jonaie Johnson to run past Grand Canyon. After scoring just 10 points in the first quarter, the Roos scored 20+ in each of the final three frames.
The Roos were selected third in the preseason WAC coaches and media polls, after placing fourth in the regular season last year.
Kansas City could not slow down CSU Bakersfield in the lane on Jan. 16, allowing 36 points in the paint and 46.6% shooting.
The Roos emerged with their first victory over New Mexico State since 2014 on Jan. 12. The Aggies held Ericka Mattingly to two points, but Emily Ivory dropped five three-pointers and Cristina Soriano posted a double-double en route to a 56-52 victory.
The Roos played their first home conference game on Jan. 9, erasing a 14-point halftime deficit to emerge victorious over UTRGV. Kansas City held the Vaqueros to 26% second half shooting, Jonaie Johnson hit the go-ahead lay up and Ericka Mattingly pulled down a huge offensive rebound with 9 seconds remaining to seal the win.
After KC opened WAC play with an 11-point victory over Seattle U, Kansas City could not get shots to fall against Utah Valley, falling by 21.
Kansas City closed non-conference play with a seven wins, the most since 2011-12.
The Roos defeated the SEC's Missouri 59-56 on Dec. 8, the program's first victory against a Power Five opponent since the Roos' 47-44 victory over Kansas on December 10, 2015
After falling to Pacific in the first round, Kansas City hosted its first-ever Preseason WNIT games on Nov. 15 & 16, defeating Portland State before falling to Davidson.
The Roos opened their season with a victory over Denver, who had previously been named to the Mid-Major Top 25.
Ericka Mattingly leads the Roos in scoring, averaging 15.2 points per game, third in the WAC.

History vs. California Baptist

With California Baptist in its second year as a Division I program, the history between these two squads is very brief, with each team winning one contest last season.
The Roos took the first victory, defeating CBU 78-74 on Jan. 10, 2019.
Ericka Mattingly dropped one of her two 30+ point games, finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The Lancers were led by Britney Thomas, who published a monsterous statline with 25 points and 19 rebounds.
The Lancers entered the fourth quarter with a five-point lead, but Kansas City shot 43.8% from the field and made 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to emerge with the victory.
The teams met once again on Feb. 9, a double-OT game for the ages. CBU erased a 12-point halftime deficit to come back for the 95-92 win.
Mattingly posted a triple-double this time around, putting up 28 points, 14 rebounds and ten assists.
Thomas had another good day, putting up a team-leading 23 points. She was joined in double-digits by four other Lancers.
The Roos led for 39:51, but couldn't come away with the win as they were outscored 12-9 in the second overtime.

California Baptist Scouting Report

In the abscence of Britney Thomas, who has not played this season, and Caitlyn Harper, who averaged 16.8 points in CBU's first five games, the Lancers have looked to others for scoring output.
Ane Olaeta and Lexy Ram have picked up the slack in combination, averaging 11.6 and 11.4 points per game, respectively.
Tiena Afu leads the team in its rebounding efforts, pulling down 6.9 per game.
Afu is also one of the best three-point shooters in the Western Athletic Conference, knocking down 39.1% of her attempts. That mark is good for third in the conference.
The Lancers outpace the rest of the conference by far from three point range, attempting 583 triples on the season. That is tied for the third-most attempts by any team in Division I, and is 123 more than any other team in the WAC.
CBU rebounds the ball at the highest rate in the WAC, pulling down 40.1 boards per game. Despite this, they average the worst rebounding margin in the conference, allowing 47.7.