Kansas City
15-10,8-3WAC
Grand Canyon
13-8,8-2WAC
Mattingly Eclipses 1,000 Point Mark, but Roos Can't Best Lopes
2/13/2020 9:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball
*Edit: Ericka Mattingly's efforts made her the 16th player to reach 1,000 career points. The article had previously stated that she was 15th*
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - On a night that belonged to Ericka Mattingly, the Roos could not hang on in the fourth quarter. Mattingly led the Roos by scoring 19 points, giving her 1,000 in her two-year Kansas City career. However, the Lopes finished the game on an 11-0 run to win by a 62-56 score, and the Roos missed a chance to extend their lead in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
FINAL | Tough one.#KCRoos | #ROOUP | #DeclareKC | #KCcommitted pic.twitter.com/z8hXZ6xvw5
— Kansas City Women's Basketball (@KCRoosWBB) February 14, 2020
The battle between the first-and-second-place teams in the WAC was as advertised, as no team ever led by more than 10 points. Kansas City controlled the lead for over 30 minutes, led by Mattingly, who scored all of her 19 points in the first three quarters. She converted for three and-one opportunites to go along with a pair of three-pointers, cutting apart the Lopes' defense for the first thirty minutes.
"She's just such a good player," Hoyt said. "I feel bad for her that on a night where she was able to reach that mark, that we couldn't top it off with a win."
3Q | WELCOME TO THE MILLENNIUM CLUB, ERICKA MATTINGLY#KCRoos | #ROOUP | #DeclareKC | #KCcommitted pic.twitter.com/Y535fpaB0f
— Kansas City Women's Basketball (@KCRoosWBB) February 14, 2020
Mattingly's final three-point bucket, which gave Kansas City a six-point lead with under a minute remaining in the third quarter, gave her exactly 1,001 in a Roo uniform. She became the 16th player in program history to reach that mark, and just the second to do so while only donning the gold and blue for two years. On her career, she averages 17.9 points per game, second in program history.
"I think it's awesome," Mattingly said. "I think it's a reflection of how well we did last year and how well we're doing this year."
She helped lead the team last year to a 16-win season, finishing with the best averages in the conference in points, assists and steals. Now, the Roos need just one more win to guarantee at least a .500 record, which would secure the first back-to-back winning seasons in more than 15 years.
With 19 points so far tonight, Ericka Mattingly has officially scored 1?0?0?1? career points, the second fastest to the mark in program history ????#KCRoos | #ROOUP | #DeclareKC | #KCcommitted pic.twitter.com/HSNazhozh2
— Kansas City Women's Basketball (@KCRoosWBB) February 14, 2020
"The thing about Ericka is she would have gladly traded those points for a win tonight," Hoyt said.
Cristina Soriano added 15 points for the Roos tonight, including five of the team's seven fourth quarter points. She's reached double-digits in 11 of the Roos' last 12 games, bringing her season average up to 10.6 per game.
4Q | Cristina Soriano, thank you very much. Tight game in the Swinney Center#KCRoos | #ROOUP | #DeclareKC | #KCcommitted pic.twitter.com/34eJPGO5Cs
— Kansas City Women's Basketball (@KCRoosWBB) February 14, 2020
The Roos had trouble stopping the Lopes in the fourth quarter, in particular Holland. She scored 15 of her 18 points in the final frame, and after scoring just 41 points in the first 30 minutes, Grand Canyon exploded for 21 in the fourth to steal the game.
"I think we lost focus," Mattingly said. "We just didn't execute at the end, defensively. We weren't as active and didn't come up with those 50-50 balls that we needed to. I think that cost us in the fourth quarter."
With the loss, the Lopes jump the Roos for first place in the conference standings. Grand Canyon leads by one-half-game, and with the season series coming to a split, made the standings much more interesting. The Lopes have six games remaining on their schedule while the Roos have five.
"We need to take this, get back in that one spot and get ready for the WAC tournament," Mattingly said.
The Roos have little time to dwell on the loss, as they take on CSU Bakersfield on Saturday. The 'Runners currently sit at third in the conference standings, and took the first matchup on Jan. 16.
"This time of year is about having a short term memory and moving on," Hoyt said. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy, and we don't want it to be easy."
