Mastodons Fall at Kansas City 77-59

Saturday, January 19

Kansas City, Mo.

3:00 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

6-13, 2-5

UMKC

6-13, 2-4

Fort Wayne

Kansas City

Photo by: Lucas Carter

1/19/2013 6:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The IPFW women's basketball team dropped to 6-13 overall and 2-5 in the Summit League with a 77-59 loss at Kansas City on Saturday afternoon. The Mastodons shot just 36 percent from the field compared to 63 percent for the Kangaroos.

Erin Murphy led IPFW with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting. She added three rebounds and tied her career-high with five assists. Stefanie Mauk finished the game with 11 points and the duo of Hyde and Seibert each added nine.

Kansas City rode the hot hand of Eilise O'Connor. O'Connor scored a game-high 34 points and was 17-of-18 from the charity stripe. O'Connor shot 8-for-12 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds in the win. Emilie Blakesley added 12 and Ashli Hill chipped in with 11.

IPFW got off to a rough start in the opening half as they trailed Kansas City 16-4 just six minutes into the game after a 12-0 run by the Kangaroos. The Mastodons were down by as much as 17 points, yet they were able to trim the lead to just nine as they held UMKC without a field goal for the final 5:15 of the first half.

Erin Murphy was a bright spot for the IPFW offense in the first half of action. Murphy scored 12 points in the opening 20 minutes, including the first seven points of the game for IPFW. Mur Hagerman and Stefanie Mauk each connected from 3-point range and Amanda Hyde rounded out the scoring with five.

Turnovers hurt both sides on Saturday as the 'Dons committed seven miscues in the first half and Kansas City returned the favor with 10. Each team took better care of the basketball in the second half as IPFW ended the contest with 12 turnovers while the Roos had 17.

UMKC held a 32-23 lead at the half by shooting 66 percent from the field compared to just 36 percent for IPFW. Those numbers stayed true for the remainder of the game which helped UMCK improve to 6-13 overall, 2-4 in the Summit.

Despite a tough start to the game IPFW still had a chance to win the game in the second half as they cut the lead to eight points with 5:45 to play. IPFW simply couldn't get stops down the stretch and O'Connor sealed the win with her free throw shooting from the line. UMKC scored their final 16 points of the game from the charity stripe.

The Mastodons will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 26 with a home game against Oakland. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

~ Feel the Rumble ~