Kansas City jumped out to an 8-0 lead over the first two and a half minutes on three-pointers by Taylor Leathers and Calli White and an Eilise O’Connor jumper before Alexis Montgomery (Beaverton, Ore.) put the Redhawks on the board with a jumper at 15:33.
The Kangaroos increased their lead, 18-4, over the next two minutes on a 7-2 run jumpstarted by Grace Mitchell adding a layup and a jumper.
A Redhawk foul at 12:30 gave the Kangaroos’ Kim Nezianya two free throws. Wilma Afunugo (Plano, Texas) drove in a layup at 11:25 but UMKC answered with a 6-0 run to lead, 26-6, at 8:23.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the half, Kacie Sowell (Ventura, Calif.) and Shephard drove in two straight layups, capitalizing on back-to-back Kansas City turnovers.
The Redhawks continued their streak, on a 14-3 run over the next three minutes to trail by single digits, 29-20, at the three minute mark. Sowell contributed eight points during the run.
Taelor Ross (Vancouver, Wash.) and Nezianya traded jumpers near the two-minute mark and, at the 1:29 mark, Shephard became just the 14th player in program history to pass 1000 career points on her first of two made free throws.
Trailing by just seven, the Redhawks committed a foul against O’Connor, who also went 2-for-2 from the line. O’Connor leads a Kangaroo offense from the line that ranks sixth in NCAA Division I free throws as a team (78.4 percent) coming into today’s game.
Kristin Stoffel (Mill Creek, Wash.) and Leathers traded jumpers with less than 20 seconds remaining as Seattle U trailed, 35-26, at the half.
Mitchell and Leathers opened the second half with a pair of jumpers and Sowell went 3-for-4 on two trips to the line as the Redhawks trailed by 10, 39-29, at 17:48, but a 7-3 Redhawk run closed the deficit to just seven, 42-35, a minute later.
Back-to-back jumpers by Stoffel just under the 15-minute mark closed the deficit to seven once again, 48-41, but the Roos jumped back out to a double digit lead, 54-43, by the under-12 media timeout.
A three-pointer by Kaylee Best (Seattle, Wash.) at 10:51 closed the deficit to just six, 56-50, the closest margin since early in the first half. The Redhawks would close the deficit to six three more times over the next three minutes to trail 62-56 with 7:36 remaining. Over the surrounding four minute span, Sowell would score eight of SU’s 13 points.
O’Connor would extend the Kansas City lead back out to double digits, 68-56, on a layup and two sets of Kangaroo free throws would seal the UMKC victory, as they led by double-digits the rest of the way to earn a 77-65 win.
Sowell and O’Connor led all players with 23 points apiece, while Shephard recorded a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) in the career game. Kansas City outrebounded Seattle U, 42-37, and shot 80.6 percent from the line (25-for-31).
Seattle U returns home for the first time since Dec. 14 after a five-game road swing to host New Mexico State on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. PT in their conference home opener. The Redhawks also host UTPA on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 4 p.m. PT to close out the weekend.