Kansas City Women's Basketball Travels to Western Illinois Tuesday

THE STARTERS

Kansas City Women's Basketball enters the game hot off its first home win. The Roos defeated William Jewell in declarative fashion 74-32. Emani Bennett led the Roos in the win, knocking down 13 points, bringing down eight rebounds and earning a career-high tying three blocks.
Tuesday's game marks the ninth meeting between the Roos and the Leathernecks in the last five years. In the last eight meetings, Kansas City is 4-4, picking up the most recent win on Dec. 10, 2023.
Alayna Contreras has been a key scorer for Kansas City across the first three games of the season, earning 29, nine and 12 points. She is averaging 16.7 points per game, shooting .389 from the field. Contreras also leads KC in three-pointers with four this season
The Roos hold a league-leading 13. 7 rebound margin and rank 42nd in the nation. On average they bring down 43 rebounds per game while allowing opponents just 29.3 rebounds per game. KC out-rebounds opponents 129-to-88 on the season.
The Kansas City bench came up clutch with 33 points in the win over William Jewell. The bench was led by Zaire Harrell who knocked down a career-high 12 points. She came up with three steals, four rebounds, two assists and a block in her standout performance.

SCOUTING WESTERN ILLINOIS

The Western Illinois enters the game undefeated in the young season. The Leathernecks defeated Culver-Stockton 89-42 in their season opener. On Sunday, Western Illinois defeated Omaha 89-83 with sophomore Raegan McCowan dropping a season-high 35 points.
Kansas City and Western Illinois have played one another 54 times. The Leathernecks are Kansas City's second-most-played team in program history and the most-played team KC faces this season.
Along with Omaha and Kansas City, the Leathernecks face another previous Summit League foe on Dec. 14. Western Illinois is hosted by St. Thomas before its conference opener on Dec. 17.
Three Leathernecks enter the game coming off back-to-back double-digit performances. Raegan McCowan scored 19 against Culver-Stockton and 35 against Omaha, Mallory McDermott knocked down 15 points in each game and Mia Nicastro scored 13 and 27 respectively.

University of Missouri Kansas City Athletics