KC Roos women win on buzzer-beater in Summit League tourney; Roos men ousted by Omaha

The Kansas City Roos women’s basketball team found a good time to bust an eight-game losing skid: the Summit League tournament.

It’s March, and this one went down to the wire in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Kansas City got the ball back down 2 points with 3.8 seconds left in the game.

The Roos were able to get the ball up court to Sanaa’ St. Andre, who took a couple dribbles and banked home a three-pointer on a floater for the 66-65 victory over No. 7 seed Denver on Friday.

The Roos, who are seeded No. 10, were down by as many as 16 in the first half but outscored the Pioneers 46-35 over the final two quarters. Manna Mensah scoring 24 of her game-high 30 points in that second half.

E’Lease Stafford, who played at Lawrence High, nailed a big shot with 14 seconds left and finished with 11 points.

Machia Mullens hauled in 12 rebounds for the Roos, who will square off against No. 2 seed North Dakota State on Saturday in the quarterfinals. The game is scheduled to tip off at 3 p.m.

End of the season for Roos men

The Roos entered the Summit League tourney with a five-game losing streak of their own.

The Roos, however, were unable to reverse the trend: Kansas City, seeded No. 7, stumbled against No. 10 seed Omaha 73-61 in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Friday night.

The Roos, who had beaten Omaha twice in the regular season, finished the season with a record of 11-21.

Tyler Andrews led Kansas City on Friday with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Andrews made of 8 of 16 shots from the field, including 3 of 7 on three-pointers.

The Roos fell into a deep hole by halftime, trailing 45-22. Kansas City outscored Omaha 39-28 in the second half, but there was just too much ground to make up.

RayQuawndis Mitchell finished with 13 points for the Roos.

Kansas City made 21 of 60 shots from the field for the game (35%). Omaha, meanwhile, made 25-53 shots for 47.2%. Omaha had 34 points in the paint compared to KC’s 18.

This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 7:17 PM.