KANSAS CITY, MO.. -- Dayon Hall-Jones came off the bench to score a career-high 21 points, including 12 in the second half, as UMKC held off the Drake women's basketball team, 70-68, in the season opener for both teams Friday night.
With 19 seconds to play and UMKC leading 69-66, the Kangaroos made a costly turnover that gave Drake a shot to win it late.
Drake senior guard Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) drained a pair of free throws to pull the Bulldogs within one with eight seconds remaining. UMKC countered with a free throw of its own, but missed the follow-up to give Plummer one last look at the basket. Plummer's 19-footer rimmed out just before the buzzer sounded.
Plummer led all scorers with 22 points and added nine rebounds. Suburban Kansas City native Monique' Jones (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit North) added a career-high 20 points and eight boards for Drake.
Drake shot 37.5 percent (21-56) from the floor compared to UMKC's 50 percent (27-54), including 53 percent (8-13) from three-point range.
Plummer added four assists and a game-high four steals.
Drake had twice as many free throw attempts (34-13) as the host Kangaroos, but the Bulldogs made only 23 free throws.
Drake outrebounded the Kangaroos, 40-30. The Bulldogs also forced UMKC into 18 turnovers.
Drake redshirt sophomore Morgan Herrick (Cedarburg, Wis.) contributed nine points and six rebounds.
Jones scored six of Drake's first eight points to set the first-half tone.
UMKC rebounded at the 11-minute mark to go on a 9-2 run, highlighted by five points from Summit League Preseason MVP Chazny Morris who finished the game with 16 points, making three of four shots from three-point range.
But the Bulldogs suffered through a 5-minute 26-second drought
without scoring late in the first half. UMKC capitalized going on a
10-0 run to grab a 27-20 lead.
Drake trailed by a one-point margin for most of the second half as the squads nearly went shot-for-shot down the stretch. Jones willed the Bulldogs to their first lead of the second half with a layup and free throw to put the score at 63-61 at the four-minute mark.
Drake will open its home season this Wednesday, playing host to Chicago State.
