The Missouri Western women’s basketball team opened up the Rob Edmisson era in impressive fashion defeating Division I opponent University of Missouri-Kansas City, 68-51. The Griffons had 22 assists on their 22 field goals and outscored the Kangaroos 25-7 off the bench. The Griffons improve to 1-0 on the season and will play their first home game of the regular season on Saturday, November 10 against 7th ranked Metro State University at 7:30 pm from the MWSU Fieldhouse.
Missouri Western struggled in the first 4:24 of the game going 0-5 from the field and 0-3 from long range getting down 8-0 against Division I opponent University of Missouri-Kansas City. The Griffons got a two pointer and a long range shot from senior Division I transfer Heather Howard cutting the UMKC lead to 8-5 with just under 14:00 minutes to play in the first half.
From there the Griffons used tough defense getting them back in the game. The Griffons closed the half on a 35-13 run which was concluded with a long range shot from Sharniece Lewis as time ran out in the first frame giving the Griffons the 35-21 lead. The Griffons outrebounded the the bigger Kangaroo team 22-13 and 7-4 on the offensive end of the floor. The Griffons also dominated the bench points outscoring UMKC 14-2 off the bench with Sharniece Lewis leading the way with nine.
The Griffons made 11-of-29 field goals and 11-of-24 after the opening four minutes. MWSU also connected on 8-of-15 long range shots and 8-of-12 after the first few minutes of play. Seven different players scored for the Griffons with Dever also pitching in nine making 3-of-4 free throw attempts. MWSU has 11 assists with Alicia Bell dishing out four.
UMKC was led by Emile Blakesely and Lauren Dudding with five points apiece. The Griffons held the Kangaroos to just 8-of-24 shooting in the first half.
The Griffons opend up a 17 point lead at 43-26 early in the second half when Sharniece Lewis hit a layup with 16:03 to play in the game. The next few minutes belonged to the Kangaroos as they used a 8-0 run cutting the Griffons lead to 43-34 after a Kim Nezianya 3-pointer with 12:32 to play in the game. The Griffons regained focus pushing the lead to 17 three times the next eight minutes. MWSU pushed to 55-38 after a Sharniece Lewis long range shot, 57-40 after a Brittany Griswold jumper and 60-43 after a Howard three pointer with 4:23 to play in the game.
Both teams scored eight points down the stretch with the Griffons picking up their first victory against the Division I opponent since November 21, 1997 when they defeated IUPU-Indianpolis, 70-49.
The Griffons shot 22-of-54 from the field with eight different Griffons scoring in the game. Howard and Sharniece Lewis both had 14 points while Dever pitched in 13. Howard and Dever led the charge with eight rebounds while Dever and Bell dished out five assists apiece. MWSU outrebounded UMkC 40-28 and 11-9 on the offensive end of the floor. MWSU made 11-of-25 three pointers and 13-of-14 free throw attempts.
The Kangaroos were led by Nezianya with 17 points while Ashli Hill pitched in 11. UMKC finished making 19-of-50 field goals and went just 3-of-13 from the field. They fall to 0-1 with the loss.
— MWSU Sports Information —