Saturday, January 4
Orem, UT
3:00 PM
Kansas City
at
Utah Valley
Preview: Women's Basketball Takes Winning Streak to Utah Valley
1/3/2020 4:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Season Highlights
- The Roos will look to extend their winning streak to three on Saturday as they take on Utah Valley to close their first road trip of the conference season.
- Kansas City began Western Athletic Conference play with a win on Thursday, defeating Seattle U, 76-65 behind 22 points from Ericka Mattingly and double-doubles from Cristina Soriano and Tajah Foster-Walker.
- The Roos are coming off of back-to-back wins for the first time this season after defeating USAO and Seattle.
- Kansas City closed non-conference play with a seven wins, the most since 2011-12.
- The Roos were selected third in the preseason WAC coaches and media polls, after placing fourth in the regular season last year.
- After posting a Top-25 scoring offense last season, the Roos are averaging 66.7 ppg to begin this season, which puts them 11.7 points out of the top 25.
- Ericka Mattingly is currently averaging 16.4 points per game, third in the WAC and 102nd in the nation.
- Kansas City leads the WAC and are 36th nationally in blocks per game (4.7), and four Roos currently rank top 10 in the WAC in blocks per game. This is unchartered territory for the Roos, as last year the team finished fifth in the conference, averaging 2.7.
History vs. Utah Valley
- The Roos swept the Wolverines last season, defeating them twice and the regular season and in the WAC tournament quarterfinals.
- Sandwiched in between a four-point victory on Jan. 24 and a three-point victory on Mar. 13 was a 33-point drubbing of Utah Valley at the Swinney Center on Feb. 23. The Roos had their fourth-highest scoring game of the season, defeating the Wolverines 97-64.
- Kansas City had two 20 point scorers in the Feb. 23 victory, as Ericka Mattingly shot 7-of-9 from the field for 21 points, and Emily Ivory knocked down seven three pointers, finishing with a career-high 25 points.
- Mattingly added 11 assists in that game, one of her four career double-digit assist performances.
- Mattingly has surpassed the 20-point mark in each of her three career games against the Wolverines, averaging 22.7 ppg.
- The Roos ended the Wolverines' season last year, hanging on for a 78-75 victory in the WAC quarterfinals. The Roos were given 30 points off of the bench, led by Emily Ivory with 16.
- The programs have gone to extra time once in the past, an overtime thriller on Feb 26, 2015 that eventually went to the Wolverines in a 61-51 decision.
- This matchup will be the sixth time Jacie Hoyt has led a Kansas City against Utah Valley. Last year's season sweep gives her a 3-2 advantage against the Wolverines all-time.
Utah Valley Scouting Report
- After opening WAC play with a 89-58 victory over Chicago State, Utah Valley enters on a three game win streak, bringing its season record to 4-9.
- The Wolverines return seven players from last year's 14-16 team, including all five players that saw more than five starting nods.
- Jordan Holland led the Wolverines in points and rebounds per game last season, earning her a spot on the WAC Second Team. She is averaging double digit scoring again so far this year, posting 10.6 points per contest.
- Eve Braslis is a scoring threat for Utah Valley once again this season, averaging a team-leading 11.0 points per game. The 6'1 Australian averaged 10.7 per game last year.
- Maria Carvalho facilitates the Wolverine offense, and has dished out 45 assists already this year. She led the team last season, posting 117 dimes.
- Josie Williams has connected on 44 of her 81 field goal attempts so far this season, good for the 5th best field goal percentage in the WAC (54.3%).
- Redshirt sophomore Nehaa Sohail has received the starting nod in the last six games for Utah Valley. She's scored in double digits twice over that period, a 10-point performance against Utah State and 11 points against Ottawa (AZ).
- With 193 assists and 181 turnovers, the Wolverines are one of just 84 teams in Division I with an assist-turnover ratio greater than 1.0. Their 1.07 ratio is good for 58th nationally.
- Utah Valley is in the middle of the WAC in many statistical categories, ranking fourth or fifth in blocks, steals, assists and rebounds per game.
- The Wolverines are unafraid to shoot the three, averaging 18.7 three point attempts per game. They connect on a WAC-lowest 26.7% of those shots, which ranks exactly 300th in Division I.
Players Mentioned
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