(WINTER PARK, Fla.) — The eighth-ranked Central Missouri Jennies scored the first seven points of the game and never looked back in routing 25th-ranked Rollins 73-45 on Saturday afternoon at the Rollins Tip-off Classic at Warden Arena. With the win, the Jennies are now 4-0 on the season, including two wins over top 25-ranked teams.
Central Missouri jumped out early thanks to a pair of buckets from Revonnia Howard and a trhee by Keuna Flax. The Tars (3-1) answered back with a 6-0 run of their own to pull within a point at the first media timeout. From there, it was all Jennies. Back-to-back jumpers from Flax made it a four-point lead and after Rollins cut the deficit to two, UCM went on a 16-1 run to open a 27-10 lead with 9:47 left in the first half.
A bucket by Rollins briefly cut the lead to 15, but the Jennies ended the half on a 10-4 run and led 37-16 at the intermission. UCM shot 43 percent from the field in the first half and made 5 of 12 from three point range.
The second half got off to a sluggish start, but after RC cut the lead to 19 the Jens ran off six straight points to push the lead 25 at 45-20 with 15:16 left in the game. A 9-2 run by the Tars cut the deficit to 18 at the 9:55 mark, but the Jennies ran off 10 straight points to build their largest lead of the game at 57-29 with just under seven minutes to play in the game.
The lead never dipped below 20 the rest of the way as UCM cruised to the 28-point victory and their second win of the season over a team ranked in the top 25.
Flax led all scorers with 20 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Howard and Quinnecia Twine both finished with 12 points and Howard matched Flax with nine boards. BreAnna Lewis chipped in 10 points.
The Jens shot 40 percent from the field, 28 of 70, including 41 percent from three-point range, 11 of 27. UCM was 6 of 8 at the free throw line for 75 percent. The Jennies dished out 18 assists compared to 12 turnovers and they held a 30-12 advantage in points in the paint. The Jennies out-rebounded the Tars 57-43.
Rollins was led by Ashley Losch’s 13 points on 5 of 16 shooting. The Tars shot 25 percent from the floor, 18 of 73 and made just 5 of 22 from beyond the arc for 23 percent. RC was 4 of 11 at the charity stripe for 36 percent.
The Jennies are off until Nov. 26 when they host Evangel at 7 p.m. at the UCM Multipurpose Building.
Box Score