The Roos women’s basketball team fought valiantly during the team’s first round match in the Summit League Basketball Championships.
Unfortunately, a tenacious fight was not enough to beat the ninth-seeded Omaha Mavericks. The Roos lost 61-55.
The game began with the Roos finding the basket off of the hand of graduate forward Dominique Phillips. Then, sophomore guard Alayna Contreras hit a beautiful three-point shot to extend the lead to 5-0.
From there, the Roos would hold the lead or be tied until around 4 minutes left in the first quarter. Then, it was all Mavericks.
The highest point scorer for the Mavericks was senior guard, Polina Nikulochkina. However, 11 of her 17 points came from the free throw line.
Free throws were the story of the game. Omaha shot 36 free throws – Kansas City shot nine.
“The difference in the game is 36 free throws to nine,” said Roos head coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrett.
She continued by saying that the team plays aggressive and to the basket. She admitted that the Roos can commit fouls, but that, “you can’t tell me that we shoot nine free throws and we foul 27 times.”
For the Roos, freshman guard Emani Bennett was the star of the game. In her 37 minutes, she shot 8-10, 2-2 from the three-point line. Her 18 points led the game.
“Being able to help out with the points was a good feeling,” Bennett said.
Bennett was also named to the Summit League All-Freshman team on Thursday.
The shocking part is that the Roos actually made 9 more field goals than the Mavericks.
Coach Jackson-Durrett was right in saying that the difference in the game was free throws. Without those 28 extra points, Kansas City would have won by a large margin.
Instead, the Roos women’s basketball team will go home empty-handed and will have to look forward to next season.
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