Kansas City Roos men’s and women’s hoops fall to Western Illinois Leathernecks

The Kansas City Roos had a chance to build some momentum in Summit League play.

Instead any momentum was halted by poor shooting, as Kansas City lost to Western Illinois 60-52 on Saturday at Swinney Center.

The Roos had rolled by St. Thomas on Thursday at home and improved to 3-2 in the Summit. But with Saturday’s loss, Kansas City dropped to 3-3 in conference and 7-12 overall.

The Roos are still ahead of Western Illinois, by 1/2 game in the league standings: The Fighting Leathernecks stand at 3-4 in the Summit, 10-8 overall.

RayQuawndis Mitchell led the Roos with 17 points on Saturday. Shemarri Allen scored 12 points and added four steals and two blocks for KC, while Jeff Ngandu pulled down 17 rebounds and had 10 points for a double-double..

Trenton Massner scored a game-high 19 points for Western Illinois.

The Roos made 31.3% (21 of 67) of their shots from the field and were 3-of-25 on three-pointers. Mitchell made all three of the Roos’ threes but was 3-of-17 on those three-point shots.

Kansas City is set to take on North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D., on Thursday. North Dakota is 0-6 in Summit League action and 6-13 overall.

Roos women unable to get by Leathernecks

The Roos women’s team lost its second straight: The Roos fell at Western Illinois 78-68 on Saturday in Macomb, Illinois.

E’Lease Stafford made six three-pointers and finished with 24 points and five rebounds for the Roos, who dropped to 5-13 overall and 1-6 in the Summit League. Western Illinois improved to 7-12, 2-6.

Rain Green had 14 points and five assists for Kansas City.

Anna Deets scored a game-high 35 points for the Leathernecks. Deets made six three-pointers, was 11-of-11 from the free-throw line and hauled in seven rebounds.

The Roos are set to play host to North Dakota (Thursday) and North Dakota State (Saturday) this week at Swinney Center.