Preview: Women's Basketball Hosts First Home Game of Conference Season

Season Highlights

Kansas City is in the Swinney Center for the first time in 2020 and the first time since Western Athletic Conference play began, taking on UTRGV at home on Thursday.
After opening WAC play with an 11-point victory over Seattle U, Kansas City could not get shots to fall against Utah Valley, falling by 21.
The Roos will look to get back above .500 against the Vaqueros, as they sit at an even 8-8 currently.
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 65.1 ppg this season, which puts them 12.9 points out of the top 25.
Ericka Mattingly leads the Roos in scoring, averaging 15.9 points per game, third in the WAC.
Kansas City leads the WAC and are 37th 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. UTRGV

The Roos have met the Vaqueros 16 times in the past, putting up a 7-9 record all-time.
14 of the meetings between the two teams have come as WAC opponents, but the first two came in the 1989-90 season, when the Roos defeated then-Texas-Pan American twice.
Last year, the Roos and Vaqueros met twice, with UTRGV emerging victorious in both meetings.
In the first meeting on Feb. 2, UTRGV outscored Kansas City 17-6 in the second quarter and ran away with the victory, 75-56.
The meeting was a battle of Wichita (Kan.) South HS graduates, as Ericka Mattingly (Class of '16) was the Roos' only double digit scorer, finishing with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting. UTRGV's Madison Northcutt (Class of '14), a 2018-19 All-WAC Second Teamer, showed out with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
Exactly a month later, the Roos and Vaqueros met once again. This time, the result was much closer, but still resulted in a 67-64 UTRGV win.
After being outscored by 26 in the paint in the first meeting, the Roos shored up their post game and scored 28 points in the paint to the Vaquero's 18.
Mattingly had another great game, posting 26 points/9 rebounds/5 assists. Northcutt gave the Vaqueros another double-double, dropping 10 points and hauling in 16 rebounds.
Northcutt was joined in double digits by Quynne Huggins (18), Amara Graham (11) and Nichele Hyman (10).
Not including Mattingly, Kansas City's returners posted 33 points against the Vaqueros in two games last season.

UTRGV Scouting Report

The Vaqueros bring a lot of new faces to the mix this year, returning just four players from last year's 18-15, WBI qualifying team.
Of those four returners, Amara Graham and Megan Johnson saw minutes as starters in 2018-19.
Graham started in 32 of UTRGV's 33 games, averaging 7.7 points per game and a team-leading 3.3 assists per game.
Johnson started in 27 games, scoring 8.2 points per game on 43.4% shooting, adding 4.3 rebounds each game.
This year, the Vaqueros were picked to finish fourth in the WAC by both the coaches and the media.
After a five-game losing skid, UTRGV opened up WAC play with a statement win over California Baptist. Five Vaqueros scored in double-digits and they defeated the Lancers 87-68.
Junior transfer Trelynn Tyler has given the Vaqueros a good boost, averaging a team-leading 14.9 points per game. She is also a top tier defensive player, averaging a WAC-best 2.6 steals per game.
Graduate transfer Jordan Agustus missed nearly the entire month of December, but made her WAC debut against California Baptist, scoring 10 points. She has started each of the nine games that she played in, averaging 12.6 ppg and 8.0 rpg.
Ashlei Lopez has started in each of UTRGV's last five games, averaging 10.0 ppg.
The Vaqueros are an efficient offensive team, connecting on 40.2% of their field goal attempts. This mark is good for second in the WAC and 165th in Division I.
UTRGV will wreak havoc on defense, forcing a WAC-best 19.9 turnovers per game, the 54th best mark in the nation.

Preview: Women's Basketball Hosts First Home Game of Conference Season

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ericka Mattingly

Preview: Women's Basketball Hosts First Home Game of Conference Season

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ericka Mattingly

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