Kansas City
5-12,1-5Summit League
St. Thomas
6-11,1-6Summit League
Women's Basketball Falls in Tight Battle with St. Thomas
1/12/2023 10:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Four Roos scored in double-digits, but the Tommies prevailed in the final moments
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Maggie Negaard scored a career-high 24 points to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds as St. Thomas won its first Summit League game of the season, 63-60 Thursday night in Schoenecker Arena. The Roos, who led by as many as five points in the fourth quarter, dropped to 1-5 in the league and 5-12 overall.
Manna Mensah led four Kansas City players in double figures and tied a career-high with 16 points. Machia Mullins tied a career-high with 12 rebounds to go along with 11 points, E'Lease Stafford had 12 points and Rain Green added 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Trailing by four points entering the fourth quarter, Kansas City scored the first five points of the final period to take a 48-47 lead. The lead grew to as many as five points (54-49) before St. Thomas rallied on a 6-0 run to take a lead of its own. Stafford's three-point play with 2:24 left gave Kansas City its final lead at 58-57, before Negaard had a three-point play of her own at the 1:10 mark as the Tommies went up 60-58. Mullens scored on a left-handed runner in the lane to tie the score with 44 seconds left before Jade Hill hit a floater in the lane to break the tie at 62-60 with 22 seconds left. A Hill free throw at 3.9 seconds increased the lead to 63-60, but the Roos were never able to get a shot off in the waning seconds.
KEY MOMENTS
- 1Q - 6:55 / 5-0 | On the first five St. Thomas possessions, the Roos forced three turnovers, including a shot clock violation after the opening tip, and held a 5-0 lead.
- 1Q - 4:53 / 5-8 | The Roos had seven offensive rebounds by the first media timeout, yet trailed 8-5 as the Tommies rattled off eight straight points.
- 2Q - 6:56 / 17-21 | Manna Mensah scored five straight points, including a three-point play, as Kansas City chipped away at nine-point deficit. The third three-point field goal of the game by Maggie Negaard ended the brief run for St. Thomas.
- 2Q - 0:58 / 29-29 | Mensah hit the Roos' first three-pointer of the game to tie the game at 29-29. Tamia Ugass rebounded her miss on two straight shots and put in the third attempt at the buzzer to tie the game 31-31 at halftime.
2Q | Mensah with the THREEE?? pic.twitter.com/56LUPpj9V3
— Kansas City Women's Basketball (@KCRoosWBB) January 13, 2023
- 3Q - 3:23 / 43-39 | Rain Green's layup gave the Roos a four-point lead as St. Thomas went scoreless for 3:03 of the quarter. The host Tommies had missed nine of their last 10 3-pt attempts.
- 3Q - 0:00 / 43-47 | St. Thomas ended the third quarter on an 8-0 run and Kansas City went scoreless for the final 3:23 to enter the final quarter down by four points.
- 4Q - 9:10 / 48-47 | A three-pointer by E'Lease Stafford and a driving layup by Green gave the Roos their first lead since midway through the 3rd quarter. The Tommies missed their first four shots of the quarter.
STATS TO NOTE
- The Roos had nine offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone and it resulted in eight second chance points, but Kansas City trailed 15-13 after one. Six Roos scored in the quarter.
- Kansas City had 26 points in the paint in the first half, a majority coming off of 14 offensive rebounds.
- The Roos had 18 offensive rebounds at the 6:09 mark of the third quarter and St. Thomas had 18 total rebounds as a team.
- After missing their last six shots of the third quarter, the Roos made their first five shots of the fourth quarter to take a 54-49 lead. Mullens scored four points in that stretch, giving her a career-high nine points for the game.
- Kansas City ended the game out-rebounding the home team 48-34, including 21-9 on the offense glass. The Roos had 19 second-chance points and the Tommies failed to score on any of their second chances.
UP NEXT
Kansas City remains on the road and will travel to Western Illinois on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip.
