Contreras Scores 24 in Loss at South Dakota State

Saturday, January 11

Brookings, SD

2:00 PM

Kansas City

5-13,1-2Summit League

South Dakota State

14-3,4-0Summit League

Kansas City

South Dakota St.

Photo by: Francie Wilson

Contreras Scores 24 in Loss at South Dakota State

1/11/2025 5:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Highlights

The Roos outscored the Jackrabbits 18-10 in the second quarter but couldn’t keep the momentum in half two

BROOKINGS, S.D. — In a gritty game against South Dakota State (14-3, 4-0), Kansas City Women's Basketball (5-13, 1-2) battled back from a 15-point deficit in the first quarter but fell 61-78 to the Jackrabbits. Alayna Contreras led all scorers with 24 points and marking her fourth 20-point performance of the season. Emani Bennett and Tamia Ugass joined her in the double-digits with 14 and 12 points respectively.

Ugass was the only Roo to score from the field in the first quarter shooting 5-of-6 to keep Kansas City within striking distance of the Jackrabbits. While KC faced shooting struggles in the first 10 minutes, they imposed a similar fate on SDSU in the second quarter. Kansas City held the Jackrabbits to 10 points with 4-of-13 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Thanks to a nine-point run, the Roos brought themselves within four, and went into the half down 30-34. SDSU came out with momentum in the third quarter putting up 25 points and all but securing the win.

KEY MOMENTS | HIGHLIGHTS
1Q — 4:50 / 5-18 | Lisa Thomas connected with Ugass who drove the ball into the paint firing off a jumper for her second bucket of the game. This marked Ugass's second basket on what became a five-bucket run. The Roos then forced back-to-back misses on the next SDSU drives, including the Jackrabbits' first miss of the game.
2Q — 8:04 / 21-27 | Contreras handled the ball driving to the right side of the arc. She fired off the step-back three to start the Roos on a 9-0 run against the Jackrabbits.
2Q — 3:10 / 27-27 | Em. Bennett picked up the shooting foul and went to the line with the Roos down by one. She knocked down her second shot to tie the game and erase the 15-point lead the Jackrabbits held in the first quarter.
3Q — 6:09 / 34-39 | The Roos connected a handful of passes before Contreras drove the ball inside and fired off a contested jumper. She banked the shot and picked up a foul, knocking down the free throw to keep KC within five of South Dakota State.

STATS TO NOTE

Rebounds were critical in KC's game. The Roos outrebounded the Jackrabbits 23-to-11 in the first half and in the game brought down 15 offensive boards compared to SDSU's six.
Contreras led the team in steals with three. She has earned at least one steal per game in the last five games and is averaging 2.4 steals per game across those five games.
The loss marks the smallest margin of victory by South Dakota State since Dec. 20, 2021, when the Roos fell 78-85. The Roos finished the 2021-22 season with a 23-9 record and went to the WNIT.
Alyssa Febres played 22 minutes, after combining for six minutes of play in the first two games of conference. She earned an assist and was just three minutes shy of matching her career-high of 25 which she earned against Westminster on Dec. 29.

UP NEXT
The Roos return home for a three-game stretch, hosting Denver (7-10, 0-4) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.