Spring Break
Oakland University's Nicole Piggott and company steamrolled into Swinney Recreation Center last Monday night and schooled the UMKC women 82-55 in a contest that, from the opening tip, was a clinic in domination. Piggott, last year's Mid-Con Scholar Athlete of the year, went 13 for 16 from the floor, scoring 28 points and adding 10 rebounds for the Golden Grizzlies.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City men's basketball team won its first road game of the year over Western Illinois University (WIU) in convincing fashion Thursday night, shellacking its Mid-Continent Conference foe 89-54. It was also the Kangaroos' third straight conference win, as they improved to 6-7 and moved into a three-way tie with Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Southern Utah University (SUU) for fourth place in the Mid-Con standings.
The UMKC women tumbled to 5-8 in the Mid Continent Conference, and 9-19 overall, after receiving a 66-48 thrashing at the hands of the Crusaders of Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind., Saturday afternoon. The Kangaroos were dogged by poor shooting from behind the three-point arc, where they went a blustery 0-17 on the afternoon.
The Valparaiso University Crusaders closed out their run in the Mid-Continent Conference with a 77-61 victory of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Valparaiso, Ind., at the Athletics Recreation Center on Saturday night. The loss, their eighth in the league this season, cost the Kangaroos the No.
Senior Blake Crawford strives not only to put forth his best effort on the basketball court, but in the classroom as well. Crawford, a 6-foot-8-inch forward for the men's basketball team, has played for the Kangaroos since his freshman year and will finish his athletic tenure at UMKC at the close of the 2006-07 season.
Freshman golfer Adam Blue shot a three-round total of 224 at the GADO-North Texas Classic Feb. 18-19. The performance was good for the second top-10 finish of his limited collegiate career. Blue led the men's golf team in its collective three-day total of 919, good for eighth place in the tournament.
Editor's Note: Due to a production error, this article ran last week but omitted rest of the text on the following page. The University News is running the article this week in its entirety. Newly hired University of Missouri-Kansas City Director of Athletics Tim Hall knew as much as any person might about an institution before interviewing for the position.
UMKC's softball team came up on the short side of the bat in action at the Clarion Lady 'Back Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., over the weekend and lost all four games. Pitted against some of the top talent the Midwest has to offer - including the University of Missouri (Mizzou) Tigers, the University of Arkansas Lady Razorbacks, Colorado State University Rams, and Wichita State University Shockers - the Roos showed promise on the mound but suffered mightily around the plate offensively.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City's rifle team squared off against the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska, Feb. 10-11 in an attempt to shoot its way to the NCAA Championships. The Kangaroos totaled a combined score of 4,469 in the air rifle and smallbore courses of the competition, falling short of the Nanooks' 4,675 combined sum.
