Box Score Rochester, Mich. (Mar. 6, 2005) ???C Despite a late second half come-back attempt by Oakland University???s women???s basketball team, seventh-seeded UMKC proved to be too much for the No. 3 Golden Grizzlies as the Kangaroos held on for a 56-53 upset win in the semifinals of the 2005 Toshiba Mid-Continent Conference Tournament. Senior Amanda Batcha (Waterford, Mich.) gave everything she had, not wanting her career to end, and she proved it on the boards, collecting 11 to make her the Mid-Con???s all-time leading rebounder, finishing the day with her 1,009th career rebound. OU winds up its season with a 21-8 scorecard ???C the most wins for the program since becoming a Division I institution. Conversely to the start of Sunday???s game, Oakland was held scoreless (7-0) in the opening four and a half minutes of the contest when the first official timeout was signaled. Jayme Wilson (Shawnee, Kan.) finally gave the Golden Grizzlies their first basket of the afternoon at the 14:04 mark on a six-footer inside the paint to make the score 9-2. As the defensive battle ensued, UMKC???s lead stretched to as many as eight in the first half, though Petra Manakova (Prague, Czech Republic) tied things up at the 1:27 mark on a jumper to make the score 17-all. However, the Kangaroos closed the half on a 3-0 spurt to give the seventh seed a 20-17 edge as the teams headed into the locker room at the half way point. With 2:36 showing on the clock in the first stanza, Batcha notched her sixth rebound of the game on a jump ball situation, which made her the Mid-Con???s all-time leader in the category. She finished the match with 11 to tie a game-high. As a whole, Oakland was outrebounded 25-15 in the opening period. The two teams registered almost identical shooting percentages in the first half, though OU was 6-for-21 and UMKC was 9-for-32. Things didn???t get much better for the Golden Grizzlies in the second half as Jowan Ortega gave UMKC a 37-25 advantage with a fade-away at the 11:09 mark. She followed that up with another jumper on the team???s next trip down the court to give the ???Roos their largest lead. OU put together a 10-2 run mid-way through the second, capped off by a lay-up underneath by Batcha with 5:07 to go in the contest. With 1:55 remaining, Liz Obrecht sank two free throws to put UMKC up by eight. The Golden Grizzlies then made another run at it and even closed within a point on a Manakova lay-up with four seconds left, but that as close as the team would get. UMKC drained two more free throws in the final two seconds to seal the win. Down the stretch, the Kangaroos made 9-of-11 freebies to help them hang on for the victory. Both teams improved their shooting in the second frame, though UMKC wound up on top of that battle, 38.2-36.7 for the game. The women in blue pulled down 41 rebounds to Oakland???s 29. After racking up eight turnovers apiece in the first half, OU finished with 12, while the Kangaroos had 16. The Golden Grizzlies dished out a season-low nine assists in the loss and made just one three-pointer all night ???C a rainbow shot from Anne Hafeli (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) with 4:31 to go in the opening half. She finished with five points. Wilson led the charge for Oakland with a game-high 18 points, adding seven rebounds, two assists and a steal as well. Batcha had seven points to go along with her 11 boards and Manakova came up with two blocks for OU.