UMKC sophomore guard Chazny Morris dribbled down the court closely pursued by ORU junior Mariana Camargo.

Kangaroos heartbroken over loss to Oral Roberts University

By: David Cordill

Posted: 2/4/08

Home court advantage couldn't shake the second-half blues for the UMKC women's basketball team, which ultimately faded down the stretch in a 67-63 loss against the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts University (ORU) Monday night inside Swinney Recreation Center.

UMKC, still smarting from sub-par performances down the stretch in back-to-back road losses to South Dakota State University and North Dakota State University, squandered a seven-point advantage early in the second frame and faded late. Head Coach Candace White-Whitaker attributed the loss to mental lapses by the Kangaroos in fundamental phases of the game.

"This team all year long has had that personality," White-Whitaker said. "I don't know if we're lax or just slip up, we kinda go brain dead for three or four minutes, and it hurts us. It lets teams back in. We're not doing the details that we continue to preach."

Sophomore guard Chazny Morris scored 21 points for UMKC while senior center Alysa Klein added 20 in the losing effort. Klein also tied the school record for blocked shots in a half, registering five swats in the first frame for the blue and gold.

"I guess I was in the right place at the right time," Klein said, nursing a fat upper lip she received from a stray elbow in the first half.

A crestfallen Morris, who fell victim to a late non-call tripping foul, assessed her team's performance after the game.

"I definitely thought we were going to win it," Morris said. "I think we worked our butts off to really do what we needed to do. Our turnovers and our offensive rebounding we gave up really set us back. … When it really counted, they were getting the little things."

Suffering their third loss in four games, the Roos dropped to 9-11 on the season and slipped to 2-7 in the Summit League standings. But for a moment, it looked as if UMKC would take control of its opponent.

Down by nine points midway through the first half, the Kangaroos opened up a 14-5 run. Klein got hot in the paint and from the line, senior guards Sierra Radke and Brittny Picconi both pumped in three-pointers, Morris hung in a layup, and senior forward Marta Waalen added a couple of free throws during the clip.

Up 28-27 at that point, the Kangaroos lost, then quickly regained the lead and went into the locker room with a 37-33 advantage at intermission.

UMKC was able to increase its advantage to seven in the second half before both teams went cold on their next several possessions. ORU fought back and retook the lead with 12:28 remaining after a Rachel Watman layup. Morris answered with a trey for the Roos, putting UMKC up 46-44.

Over the next 7:20 the contest saw four ties and eight lead changes. Waalen hit two from the charity stripe and put the Kangaroos ahead 59-58 with 3:48 left. Leanne Robison responded with a bucket for the Golden Eagles, who grabbed the advantage and held it for the remainder of the evening, but not without a little drama.

Trailing by two with 25 ticks left, Klein rebounded ORU's Kelly Kindell's missed three-point attempt. Klein was able to get the ball down court to Morris, who tumbled to the floor after she became entangled with a ORU defender. No foul was called.

White-Whitaker addressed the incident by saying the non-call was "huge" as far as its impact on the final outcome but added that her team's failure to rebound during an ORU missed free throw opportunity was even larger.

dcordill@unews.com