UMKC women can’t turn career days into victory at Illinois State
Two guards for the UMKC women’s basketball team matched or surpassed their career highs in scoring on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to win the game.
In review of the game that the UMKC women played at Illinois State on Sunday, Nov. 26, several statistics jump out of the box score. Senior Sierra Bone came off the bench to score 19 points, hitting six of nine attempts from 3-point range. Her classmate Aries Washington notched 23 points, going 7-for-9 from the field. Those figures represented a new career high for Bone, and tied Washington’s career high for points.
Other facts are also telling of how the game went. Outside of Bone and Washington, the other seven Roos who played in the game contributed a total of 11 points. Forwards Kiana Law and Kristen Moore were held to a combined two points on 1-of-15 shooting. As a team, UMKC shot under 29 percent from the field for the game. Those are the numbers which led to the 64-53 defeat on Sunday at Illinois State.
Despite being limited to just two effective scorers, the Roos (0-5) were able to make the contest a two-possession affair with just under two minutes to play. That late run came thanks to UMKC’s defense and a late surge by Washington, who recorded 21 of her points in the second half. Had the Roos not been plagued by the poor shooting elsewhere, 17 turnovers and getting out-rebounded 41-30 they might have been able to escape with their first victory of the season.
Illinois State was able to put the game away at the free throw line, however, and the game represented a familiar narrative. Through the first five games of the season, fans have seen UMKC put some solid minutes together, only to seemingly undo the progress with bad stretches during games. In each of the previous three games, the Roos have shown improvement on defense while struggling to execute on the offensive end. Sunday’s team shooting percentage represented a new season low for UMKC.
In this contest, the defensive effort was almost right where it needed to be. Other than allowing the Redbirds to shoot over 53 percent in both of the final two quarters, forcing 16 turnovers and limiting opponents to 64 points is a place where the Roos should be comfortable. If Law, Moore and senior guard Samantha Waldron hit their season averages in points through the first four games, that likely would have been enough to win. The game, and the season to this point, was summarized in a quote in the post-game release by head coach Jacie Hoyt.
"“Our team has to learn how to put four quarters together and we can’t come out on the road and not be ready from the tip. It’s not enough to say we won the second half, we have to do what it takes to perform and execute for a full 40 minutes.”"
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UMKC will get a lot closer to home for its next game, which is Wednesday at Kansas. Perhaps the proximity to Kansas City will help them secure the consistent execution that has evaded them to this point.