The Kansas City Roos Women’s basketball team entered today as massive underdogs at the 10 seed, and now, they walk out of The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center as the victors after an enthralling 66-65 win over the seventh-seeded Denver Pioneers.

  Soon after tipoff, Denver smothered the Roos with air-tight defense, tagging along with an electrifying 15 points from the 3pt line, giving them a 19-7 advantage after the first quarter of action.

  Early on in the second quarter, Kansas City trimmed the Pioneers’ advantage down to single digits; however, Denver retained their double-digit advantage at the half by a score of 30-20.

  Graduate guard E’Lease Stafford’s nine points led the team at the break, but with an abysmal 19.4% combined shooting percentage on 7-36 shooting, the lights looked too bright for the Roos to start the game.

  Kansas City’s inability to finish underneath against the likes of senior forward Makayla Minett and graduate forward Mikayla Brandon made the difference in the first half, as the Roos were held to a staggering two points from below the basket.

  However, to start the second half, graduate guard Mannah Mensah took control of the game for Kansas City, trimming the Pioneers’ lead to just eight points after an awe-inspiring 14-point display in the third quarter.

  With one quarter left to play, down 49-41, the Roos were poised to change their destiny. Undersized, short-handed, whatever the case may be, they’ve heard it all. Too many times they’ve come away short; too many times they’ve hung their heads in disgust in the locker room, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. 

  But this time, on the biggest stage of them all, The Kansas City Roos were determined to put an imprint on this program that will be talked about for many years to come.

  With 3.8 seconds left to play, and no timeouts left, junior forward Machia Mullens inbounded the ball to junior guard Sanaa’ St. Andre, who dribbled the ball across half-court and heaved up a one-legged prayer from beyond the arc, banking it off the glass, sealing the game in emphatic fashion.

  During the post-game press conference, Sanaa’ mentioned that she wasn’t even expecting to have the ball.

  “I was like, ‘let me at least get across half [court] and just throw it up,’” Sanaa’ said. “I practice that shot every time.” 

  After Kansas City’s emphatic victory today, they must shift their focus to tomorrow’s matchup, where they will face off against the second seed in North Dakota State at 3 p.m. The game will be airing on midicosports.com and streaming on ESPN+. You can tune in live on RooTV’s YouTube channel here for live wire-to-wire Roos coverage. ROO UP!

You can watch the postgame press conference here.