Women's Basketball | 3/7/2019 11:43:22 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A year ago, the University of Central Missouri women’s basketball team won the ultimate prize. But on the magical ride to the NCAA Division II national title, the Jennies hit a pothole that derailed them in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Tournament.

Back at the conference tournament Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium, the Jennies faced Central Oklahoma with a determination not to allow history to repeat.

Despite a couple of strong runs by the Bronchos in the first quarter, Central Missouri, the No. 2 seed, took control in the second quarter and made sure it wasn’t going to be victim to another upset.

Relying on the scoring from national champion veterans Paige Redmond, Megan Skaggs and Morgan Fleming, the Jennies beat Central Oklahoma 80-47. Central Missouri, 23-5, will return to action 8:15 p.m. Saturday. The three players tallied 58 points.

“We definitely talked about it before the game,” said Fleming, who finished with 17 points. “Last year there were teams playing for their lives and we thought we had another game and we played like it. We needed to fight like that. I am glad we are staying in Kansas City for more than six hours.”

Central Missouri played nearly flawless in the third. They took a seven-point halftime lead and expanded it to an insurmountable advantage with a little over 3 minutes left in the third quarter.

One play that typified the team effort from the Jennies came with 3:10 left. An interior bounce pass from sophomore Gigi McAtee led to an easy layup for Skaggs. The play gave the Jennies a 51-32 lead.

“She did a fantastic job playing tonight,” Central Missouri coach Dave Slifer said of McAtee, who came off the bench and played 26 minutes and had four rebounds, four points.

Central Missouri continued to execute in the final 3 minutes of the third quarter and built a 62-36 lead.

“I was stunned the way we held them down in the third quarter,” Slifer said. “That was as well as we played defense all year.”

Skaggs excelled almost everywhere on the court. She finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

In a first half that had some wild momentum swings, Central Missouri had the most sustained one and went into halftime with a 35-28 lead.

The Jennies started strong, quickly grabbed a 10-4 lead. But as quick as a blink of an eye, Central Oklahoma stormed back. The Bronchos went on an 11-0 run for a 15-10 lead.

Just when Central Oklahoma appeared to be in control, the Jennies took charge again. A three-pointer by Redmond put Central Missouri back in front 17-15. She followed that trey with another to make it 20-15. The Jennies finished the first quarter ahead 20-18.

A 10-2 run to start the second quarter gave Central Missouri a double-digit lead at 30-20. But the Bronchos refused to give in. They scored the next six points and trailed by four points. The Jennies ended the first half scoring five of the last seven points.

“We started running our offense more fluidly, and being in the right place at the right time,” Skaggs said.