Roos Open League Play with Wire-to-Wire Victory at St. Thomas

Thursday, January 2

St. Paul, MN

1:00 PM

Kansas City

5-11,1-0Summit League

St. Thomas

8-6,0-1Summit League

Kansas City

St. Thomas (MN)

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski, UST Athletics

Roos Open League Play with Wire-to-Wire Victory at St. Thomas

1/2/2025 4:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Highlights

Emani Bennett and Tamia Ugass led KC with 26 points each

UPDATE (Feb. 4, 2025) - Kansas City Athletics was made aware of and promptly self-reported a rules violation that impacted the women's basketball team's Jan. 2 win over St. Thomas. After following the appeal process, The Summit League has upheld the decision of a Kansas City forfeit, impacting the league standings moving forward. No other contests were, or will be, impacted by this violation and KC Athletics has accepted the league's ruling.

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ST. PAUL, Minn.— There was no stopping Kansas City Women's Basketball (5-11, 1-0) in its first game of the new year. The Roos came out firing to earn their first conference opening win under Coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrett defeating St. Thomas (8-6, 0-1) 76-69. The Blue and Gold opened things up with a hot-shooting first quarter going 10-of-15 from the field.

The Kansas City defense continued the momentum into the second quarter holding the Tommies to 1-of-11 from the field and 0-of-5 beyond the arc. The Roos entered the break leading, 37-24. Alayna Contreras and Emani Bennett both played a full 40 minutes for the Roos. Contreras knocked down 18 points and three assists, shooting 50% from the field. Em. Bennett piled on 26 points for KC, shooting 64.7% from the field. Tamia Ugass was critical in the win for the Roos, matching her career-high of 26 points and showing composure from the charity stripe. She went 12-of-13 from the line to give Kansas City its first game with two 20-point performers this season.

KEY MOMENTS | HIGHLIGHTS
1Q — 7:22 / 4-2 | Thomas put the pressure on St. Thomas, forcing a turnover early. She carried the ball to half-court and launched a pass to an open Em. Bennett who banked the layup.
1Q — 3:56 / 14-10 | Kansas City earned back-to-back threes the first coming from Em. Bennett and the next from Contreras. Contreras handled the ball for the Roos and took the open space left by her defender to give KC a four-point advantage.
2Q — 4:14 / 36-21 | Kelby Bannerman found an open Contreras just inside the arc. Contreras shot the open jumper, to bring her to 14 points and give KC its largest lead of the game with 15.
3Q — 5:49 / 43-31 | Thomas maintained possession for KC outside the arc, when she faced pressure from the St. Thomas double-team, she sent a high pass to Ugass who went up for the easy bucket.
4Q — 3:30 / 64-51 | Zaire Harrell drove the ball into the paint drawing two St. Thomas defenders. She found an open Em. Bennett who paused before going up for the layup, picking up contact on the shot. Em. Bennett hit the free throw to extend Kansas City's lead to 13.

STATS TO NOTE

KC held St. Thomas to 1-of-11 shooting in the second quarter and just five points. The five points allowed marks the lowest-scoring quarter by a Kansas City opponent since the Roos held William Jewell to four points in the first quarter on Nov. 9.
Harrell and Thomas combined for 16 of Kansas City's rebounds. Thomas earned a new career-high of seven rebounds while Harrell documented a team-leading nine.
Since rejoining the starting lineup on Dec. 19, Thomas has earned five or more assists in the past four games, including six today.
The win marks KC's first over St. Thomas since Feb. 14, 2022, when the Roos defeated the Tommies 69-53. It is also Kansas City's highest-scoring performance against St. Thomas.

UP NEXT
Kansas City Women's Basketball hosts North Dakota (5-8) in its home opener on Saturday at 1 p.m.