SUU women't basketball: 3-pointer fells T-Birds; McMurray hits milestone

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Southern Utah suffered a last-minute 60-57 defeat at UMKC on Saturday afternoon as the Kangaroos' LeAndrea Thomas sank a 3-point field goal with 44 seconds on the clock to seal the win.

SUU sophomore Challis Pascucci had two looks at the basket in the final minute of the game but was unable to connect as UMKC finish the final 44 seconds on a 5-0 run.

The Kangaroos led by as much as six (53-47) with 7:13 on the clock. Southern Utah answered right back with a 7-0 run to regain the lead after back-to-back layups by Anne Westwood Higbee and a third long-distance bomb by Caitlyn Sears. Sears finished the night with 15 points, including 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point land.

Higbee led the T-Birds with a game-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting coupled with seven rebounds.

SUU drops to 8-15 and 4-8 in conference with the loss while UMKC moves to 11-12 and 6-6 in The Summit League.

UTAH VALLEY 85, JOHNSON & WALES 27: At Orem, Julie McMurray became just the third Utah Valley women's basketball player to reach 1,000 career points in the Wolverines' blowout win. McMurray reached the milestone following a steal and a layup with 14:27 to go the in first half. It's the season-best fifth straight win for the Wolverines, who scored the first 13 points of the game en route to their biggest victory of the season.

"We've talked a lot about Julie this year and how she's put it all together," said head coach Cathy Nixon. "I'm glad to see her reach that milestone. For her to accomplish that is a tribute to her efforts. I think she just continues to get better."

Robyn Fairbanks upped her nation-leading scoring average to 25.5 per game after recording 29 points and 12 rebounds in just 20 minutes of action.