Kansas City women’s basketball protected home court on Thursday, securing its first win over the South Dakota Coyotes since 2013.
Leading the first half charge was senior forward Kelby Bannerman. She started the game off with two easy layups, then knocked down a three from long range.
The first quarter ended with the Roos up 23-10. With 12 points in the first half, Bannerman tied her season high.
“It’s important to us that our coaches have a lot of confidence in us and want us to shoot the ball,” said Bannerman. “We hit shots early, that helped us flow.”
Feeding off the first half success, sophomore guard Emani Bennett was on fire from three point range. Shooting perfect on all four attempts from three, she led all scorers in the first half.
“Kelby and I spend a lot of time working outside the gym, working on our three point shot,” said Bennett. “We know a lot of teams want to play us back, so we knew we’d have the shot..”
Kansas City went into half leading 45-27. Struggles for South Dakota continued after making only 11 of 34 attempted three point shots.The Roos continued to cruise, winning the game 77-54.
“From start to finish, we imposed our will,” said head coach Dionnah Jackson-Durrett. “We dominated the game, we dominated the stats. I’m so proud of the team.”
Bannerman finished the game with a career high of 17 points, while Emani Bennett led scorers with 24. Senior guard Lisa Thomas ended the game only one assist shy of a double-double, with 10 rebounds and nine assists.
The Roos end up finishing January with an even slate of wins and losses in conference play at 4-4.
Kansas City looks to carry the momentum into February as the team heads to Denver for a game on Feb. 5.