Roos to Face No. 9 Omaha in Summit League Tournament

Starting Five

The Roos enter the rematch against Omaha with almost a completely different squad from last year's tournament team. The Roos fell to the Mavericks in the semifinals last year, but of the current team, Tamia Ugass and Zaire Harrell were the only two players to make appearances in the matchup.
Both Dominique Phillips and Alayna Contreras put up double-digit performances in the loss to Oral Roberts. Phillips notched her first double-double of the season and second of her career with 11 rebounds and 15 points. Throughout the season, Phillips led the team in rebounds, bringing down a total of 142. Contreras knocked down 12 points, including two assists for her 17th double-digit performance of the season.
Kansas City's bench will likely play an important role in the matchup. Nationally, the Roos currently rank tent in bench points per game averaging 28.0. The Blue and Gold are also the first team in the Summit League for bench points per game with Omaha coming in third, averaging 25.2.
In their past two appearances at the Summit League Tournament Kansas City has advanced to at least the second round. Since rejoining the Summit League the Roos average 67.3 points per game and have never lost by a margin greater than 14 points.
The Roos fell to Oral Robert 94-56 in their final matchup of the season. Since rejoining the Summit League, Kansas City is 0-4 in their final matchup of the season but 2-1 in their first round of the conference tournament.

Omaha Notes

Omaha enters the matchup hot off a senior night victory against St. Thomas. The Mavericks picked up their third win of conference play against the Tommies on Feb. 29 putting up a 79-62 victory. Following their win, Omaha will have had over a week to rest going into the tournament.
This will be the second postseason meeting in two years between the Roos and the Mavericks. Last season, the two teams met in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Omaha ended Kansas City's season with a 69-60 victory.
The winner of the Omaha, Kansas City game on Friday will face undefeated South Dakota State University on Saturday. Following Omaha's victory over Kansas City in the semifinals last year, the Mavericks advanced to face SDSU in the championship game. Omaha lost to SDSU, 93-51 in the matchup.
During conference play, the Mavericks picked up wins over Denver, South Dakota and St. Thomas. They shot .417 from the field and .342 outside the arc.
Making it to the charity stripe has been a struggle for the Roos this season, but not the Mavericks. Omaha leads the Summit League in free throw attempts per game averaging 23.86. Nationally, Omaha ranks second for free throws made per game notching 17.428 on average. The Roos rank eighth in the Summit League in free throws made per game, averaging 11.6.

Season in Review

In the second year under Coach Jackson-Durrett, Kansas City improved upon last season's record, adding three to the win column. The Roos also improved their conference record putting up a .188 win percentage compared to last year's .167.
The Roos heated up from Dec. 2 to Dec. 18, putting themselves on a five-game winning streak at home. The five-game home winning streak was the longest home winning streak since the 2021-2022 season.
Alayna Contreras led the Roos on offense, averaging 10.4 points per game and notching 313 points across the regular season. Dominique Phillips led the team in rebounds bringing down an average of 4.7 per game. Naryah Simmons led the team in steals earning 45 across the season and averaging 1.5 steals per game.
The Roos swept Omaha during conference play, marking the first program sweep since the 2021-2022 season.
Kansas City notched three Summit League yearly awards. Both Alayna Contreras and Dominique Phillips were recognized on the All-Newcomer team and Emani Bennet notched herself a spot on the All-Freshman squad. The last time Kansas City was recognized with three awards was during the 2021-2022 season. This year marks the first time since rejoining the Summit League that three Roos have been honored with yearly awards.

University of Missouri Kansas City Athletics