Roos pull away from BU in fourth

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- RaVon Nero sparked a 13-0 fourth quarter run to help the University of Missouri Kansas City pull away from the Bellevue University women's basketball team 74-58 in exhibition action on Thursday evening.

While the game counting as a regular-season affair for Kansas City, the Roos improve their overall record to 4-7. BU's 6-6 record is unaffected by tonight's result.

The Bruins and Roos went toe-to-toe early as Faith Ross drained a trey for the Bruins to take an 8-6 lead midway through the first before Kansas City rattled off the final 13 points of the quarter to take a 19-8 lead after one period of play.

Aminah Hall canned a three to kick off the second quarter as the Bruins spent much of the quarter trading scores. The Roos led by nine on a jumper by RaVon Nero at the 4:50 mark to go up 30-21. Kaziah Terrell kicked off an 11-5 run with a three-pointer as the Bruins cut the deficit to just five, 37-32, at halftime.

Bellevue scored the first eight points of the third quarter to gain their first lead since the first quarter. Miranda Hennings sandwiched a pair of treys around a jumper from Asha Scott as BU went up 40-37. Kansas City responded with a run, scoring 11-straight, to take a 48-40 lead before the Roos stretched that advantage to 12 before settling for a 52-44 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Bellevue dominated the opening three minutes of the fourth quarter scoring a 10-2 run highlighted by six points from Ashtyn Arnold as the Bruins cut the deficit to just two points, 56-54 prompting a timeout by the Roos. Nero, who had yet to play in the second half due to foul trouble, re-entered for the Roos and scored nine-straight points out of the break to put Kansas City back up by double figures, 65-54.

Hennings finished with 16, hitting on 6-of-8 field goals and draining four trifectas, to lead the Bruins and was joined in double figures by Taylor Dement with 10 points. Scott and Arnold dropped in eight apiece and Laura Jurek led the rebounding effort with nine boards.

Nero finished with 23, in just 19 minutes, and E'Lease Stafford dropped in 22 to lead the Roos. Sanaa' St. Andre added 13 and Dani Winslow pulled down a game-high 16 boards.

Bellevue gets a 2-week layoff before returning to action on Thursday, Dec. 29 when they host Doane University in the first of two games in the Fairfield Inn by Marriott Classic.