Senior guard Brittny Picconi drives into the paint.

Bison lead too much for Roos to overcome

By: Nick Wells

Posted: 2/25/08

The weather outside Swinney Recreation Center may have been frightful, but that did not prevent the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Bison from a hot shooting night, as they ran through the Roos 94-81. The UMKC women's basketball team put together one of its most complete performances of the year, but the Bison shot the lights out, connecting on 57 percent of their shots.

"The Bison shot the ball extremely well, and we had a little bit to do with that," said Candace White-Whitaker, UMKC Head Coach. "They got a lot of easy looks, some shots were contested and some were not. … We need to do a better job defensively and consistently stopping people."

UMKC kept the score tight early in the game, behind senior center Alysa Klein, but NDSU closed the high-scoring opening half on a 31-17 scoring run.

The Bison came out firing in the second half, taking their biggest lead of the game, 70-46 with 13:06 remaining. But just as the Roos have shown all year, they would not go quietly.

Senior point guard Sierra Radke had an interesting point about the team's pattern of execution.

"If you watch us play, we may be down but we play every game like we are ahead," Radke said.

The Roos had something left in the tank, as they went on a 15-4 run in three and a half minutes, cutting the deficit to 13 points thanks to critical three-pointers hit by senior Brittny Picconi.

Eight straight points from leading scorer Chazny Morris kept the Kangaroos within eight with 27 seconds left, but the clock would expire before UMKC could inflict any more damage. Morris finished with 24 points.

The Bison had all-five starters in double figures, including four scoring 14 or more. Lisa Bue led NDSU with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

"They have a lot of weapons and they can all shoot it, it makes them hard to guard, and I think we caught them on a really good night," White-Whitaker said.

UMKC was led by Klein as she matched her career-high of 27 points, and blocked two shots, giving her sole possession of fifth place all-time in the Summit League Conference. Radke added five points and a career-high 12 assists to only a pair of turnovers. The Kangaroos also had great play off the bench, with Picconi dropping in 11 points, and more quality minutes coming from junior forward Krystal VanHook and true freshman guard Sarah Stewart.

"We had great energy tonight, and that is what really carries over to the next game," Klein said.

"I told the girls after the game they showed strong character, and great courage and heart, and that is what is most important and what we need to take away from this game," White-Whitaker said.

UMKC (9-16, 2-12 Summit) looked next to settle a score on Feb. 23 in Tulsa, Okla. in a battle with Oral Roberts University.

General sentiment indicated there were still some deep-seated feelings connected to the two squads' last matchup and the Roos were interested in some payback.

"We have a little vendetta out for Oral Roberts," Klein said.

nwells@unews.com