Kansas City
8-22,3-15Summit League
Denver
12-18,8-10Summit League
St. Andre's Miracle at the Buzzer Lifts Roos Past #7 Denver
3/3/2023 6:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Manna Mensah scored 30 points and Sanaa' St. Andre hit a banked three-point shot at the buzzer to send KC into the Summit Quarterfinals
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Last second magic propelled Kansas City Women's Basketball (8-22) into the Summit League Quarterfinals, defeating #7 Denver, 66-65. The Pioneers hit a bucket to take a lead with just 3.8 seconds remaining, but Machia Mullens bulleted a pass to Sanaa' St. Andre, who took three dribbles and put up a floating three-point shot, banking it home and sending the Roos past the Pioneers.
For the first three quarters, Denver seemed to have all of the momentum. The Pioneers jumped out to a 16-point lead in the second quarter, leaving the Roos to chip away from behind. Entering the final frame down by eight points, Kansas City locked in, dropping 25 points and hitting 9-of-14 field goals. Manna Mensah took over down the stretch, E'Lease Stafford hit a clutch shot with 14 seconds remaining and St. Andre hit the miracle buzzer-beater.
While St. Andre hit the biggest shot of the day, Mensah willed Kansas City back into the game, scoring 24 of her game-high 30 points in the second half. She went 7-of-11 from the field in the second half, nailing three three-point shots. Stafford was the only other Roo in double-digits, finishing with 11 points while playing all 40 minutes. Mullens pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds, while Tamia Ugass brought down 10 boards of her own.
KEY MOMENTS
- 1Q - 3:31 / 6-9 | Machia Mullens found E'Lease Stafford for her first three-pointer of the day, bringing the Roos within three. Denver went on an eight-point run over the next minute-plus, taking a double-digit lead into the end of the first quarter.
- 2Q - 7:15 / 10-23 | Stafford knocked down yet another triple from way beyond the three-point line, snapping a six-point run by the Pioneers and sparking a seven-point run by Kansas City. Manna Mensah and Tamia Ugass hit mid-range jumpers on the next two trips down the court as the Roos began to chip into Denver's advantage.
- 2Q - 4:35 / 17-25 | Mensah rose up to pull down a miss by Mullens, then went right back up through contact and finished. She made the free throw to cut the deficit to eight.
- 3Q - 6:31 / 27-38 | After a Denver three-pointer, Mensah came right down the other way and hit a three to respond. The Pioneers hit another three the next trip down to force a Kansas City timeout.
- 3Q - 2:41 / 35-41 | Tamia Ugass stepped through the defense and used a pure hook shot to give the Roos an eight-point run. Mensah hit a pull-up jumper the next time down, extending the Roos' run into double-digits.
3Q | Coming back with an eight-point run????
— Kansas City Women's Basketball (@KCRoosWBB) March 3, 2023
?? @MidcoSports pic.twitter.com/kiOWNivIXZ
- 4Q - 8:01 / 47-49 | Mullens made the first two field goals of the final frame, nailing a baseline jumper and then pulling down an offensive board for a second chance bucket. She hit a pair of free throws the next time down to draw the Roos within two, as close as they had been since the first quarter.
- 4Q - 2:53 / 59-58 | Kansas City went on an eight-point run, with six-straight coming from Mensah, to claim its first lead of the game. The Pioneers scored the next three points and took the lead right back.
- 4Q - 0:00 / 66-65 | With the Roos trailing by two and 20 seconds remaining, Stafford drove to the left baseline, shooting over two defenders and banking home a shot to tie the score. Denver came down to the other end and reclaimed the lead with 3.8 seconds, setting the stage for St. Andre's heroics.
4Q | @SanaaStandre FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!! THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT MADNESS!!!!!!!
— Kansas City Women's Basketball (@KCRoosWBB) March 3, 2023
?? @MidcoSports pic.twitter.com/OmLW4LGI8y
STATS TO NOTE
- Mensah's 30-point performance is the second-best of her career, just behind a 32-point output against Oral Roberts on Feb. 4. It is also tied for the third-highest scoring output by a Roo in a conference tournament game in program history.
- All seven field goals that were made in the first quarter came from beyond the three-point line. Two came from the Roos, and five came from the Pioneers.
- The Roos had trouble from inside the arc in the first half, knocking down 3-of-24 two-point shots.
- The win is Kansas City's first since Jan. 26, snapping an eight-game losing streak.
- Today was just the second time in program history that the Roos came out on the winning side of a one-point game in the conference tournament. The first came on Mar. 7, 2010, when KC took down North Dakota State in overtime, 76-75. LeAndrea Thomas made the game-winning buzzer-beater in that contest, while Chazny Morris dropped 30 points for KC.
- Kansas City has now claimed a win in each of the past two Summit League Championships, marking just the third time in program history that the Roos have won a conference tournament game in back-to-back years.
THE ROOS, QUOTED
Sanaa' St. Andre
"Nothing was going right in the first quarter so I just focused on my defense and the rest will worked itself out."
"I practice that shot every time, so it was nothing."
Manna Mensah
"I feel like nothing was really going our way but we told each other that we can't look at the scoreboard right now, it's one play at a time."
"You can't get too rattled you have to play with poise when you rattled up its rushes you and kind of makes you feel out of place."
Coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrett
"Great players make plays and I'm just so very proud of our team. We dig in and we were resilient tonight."
"This year has been hard, adversity has hit us and like I told them in the locker room before the game even started, we've been through every scenario that can be thrown at us."
UP NEXT
The Roos advance to the Summit League Quarterfinals, where they will take on second-seeded North Dakota State at 3 p.m. The Roos dropped both games to the Bison in the regular season.
