Women’s Basketball: ’Roos end regular season with 68-41 loss

Eilise O’Connor
Photo Courtesy: UMKC Athletics

The ’Roos fell 68-41 to the Omaha Mavericks in last Saturday’s away game.

Head Coach Marsha Frese’s first regular season ended 9-20 overall and 5-11 in the Summit League. Last season, the ’Roos finished 20-10 and 11-7.

The ’Roos will now enter the Summit League Tournament as the No. 7 seed, out of eight teams.

UMKC will face No. 2-seed Indianapolis at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The ’Roos have already lost twice to the Jaguars this season: 47-33 on Feb. 23 at UMKC, and 47-46 on Jan. 24 in Indianapolis.

As usual, junior Eilise O’Connor shined on the court, racking up eight points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Lexis Hardiek led the team with 11 points. Emile Blakesley led with eight rebounds and also scored eight points.

“There isn’t much to say about today’s [Saturday] game, it pretty much speaks for itself,” O’Connor said.  “We have to decide as a team how we want our tournament experience to go.

“It’s a whole new season now: win or go home.  At this point, every team is sore and fighting the fatigue of a long season.  The playing field is even and what we do with this opportunity is in our hands.”

Frese has found strength and talent in O’Connor, who will try to put the ’Roos on the Summit League Tournament’s map.

“There’s not enough adjectives to describe her [O'Connor],” she said. “The leadership she brings, the working mentality and how she gets every single teammate involved always helps the team.”

dmoreno@unews.com