UMKC women earn first victory of Jacie Hoyt’s head coaching career

The UMKC women’s basketball team is undefeated in home games under new head coach Jacie Hoyt.

After a six-game slate of road contests to begin the season, the UMKC women’s basketball team (1-6) played its home opener for the 2017-18 season on Saturday, Dec. 2, against the Blue Tigers of Lincoln University. The result was a lopsided victory that was not only the first of the season for the Roos, but the first in the head coaching career of Jacie Hoyt.

In securing the 98-41 win over Lincoln, UMKC outperformed several previous milestones. The 98 points not only shattered the previous season-high of 71 scored in the season opener at Western Illinois, but was the most scored by a UMKC women’s team since Nov. 29, 2016. In the victory, senior guard Aries Washington surpassed her previous personal and team season high for points with 28. The 41 points allowed was also a season-best for UMKC, whose previous best was 61 at Iowa State.

Coach Hoyt spoke about the relief the team and she felt after the contest:

"“Our schedule has been really one of the hardest in the country. I don’t know many teams that haven’t had a home game until December. Tonight was really good to see everything come to life. We executed really well.”"

Part of what led to the offensive explosion was a drastically improved shooting percentage. In both of the Roos’ previous two games, UMKC shot under 29 percent from the field as a team. Against Lincoln, the Roos shot nearly 53 percent, including almost 38 percent from 3-point range. Hoyt relayed how much of a difference the improved efficiency meant:

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"“To be honest we have executed really well, we just haven’t finished our shots. Anytime you can finish those shots, it feels a lot different.”"

For the second game in a row, a Roo player finished with a double-double. Senior center Paige Husa came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 12 rebounds in her 19 minutes. Husa spoke about how good it felt to finally put everything together in a game, saying “…to get that first win and get it handily feels great.”

Senior guard Samantha Waldron, who had only contributed 13 points in the team’s last two games, relocated her shot against Lincoln, scoring 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Junior forward Kristen Moore fell just two rebounds shy of recording a double-double for the second consecutive game with 13 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Daijane Dillard led the team in assists with seven, and tied Husa for the team lead in steals with two.

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UMKC will look to stay unbeaten at Swinney Recreation Center under Hoyt on Wednesday, Dec. 6, against Oral Roberts (5-3). If the Roos can replicate any parts of this win, they will have a great chance to do so.