KANSAS CITY, Mo.- Junior Jordon O'Brien scored a career-high 25 points including 19 second half points as the Western Illinois women's basketball team rallied from down 24 points to pick up its first road win of the season as it beat UMKC, 57-51, in the Swinney Recreation Center.

Trailing by 24 points with 14:11 left in the second half, the Westerwinds (7-15, 5-6 Summit League) outscored the Kangaroos (10-12, 5-6 Summit League) 40-10 the remainder of the game.

The run started with a jumper from freshman Lyndi Thorman with 11:49 left in the game cut the lead to 22 at 41-19. Western would go on an 10-2 run in the next four minutes that included five straight points from senior Amanda Walker.

A jumper by Kalei Nance with 7:07 left on the clock ended the run and extended the UMKC advantage to 16 points at 45-29.

The Westerwinds would score the next seven points of the game on a pair of jumpers from sophomore Lindsey Wutt and a three-pointer from O'Brien, cutting the lead to single digits at 45-36 with 5:36 left to play.

A lay-up from Mariah Davis with 3:36 left in the game put the Kangaroos up 12 at 49-37. Walker answered with a three-pointer and O'Brien hit back-to-back jumpers along with a three-pointer with 1:53 remaining in regulation to pull Western within one point at 49-48.

Chazny Morris connected on a pair of free throws to push the UMKC lead back to three at 51-48 with just over a minute left to play. O'Brien would answer with her fourth three-pointer of the game to tie the game at 51-51 with 46 seconds left to play.

After a missed jumper from Morris, sophomore Anne Borgertpoepping found Thorman in the post, who hit a turn around lay-up to put the Westerwinds up 53-51 with 20 seconds left, giving them their first lead since it led 4-2 with 15:40 left in the first half.

O'Brien and Walker each hit a pair of free throws down the stretch, clinching a 57-51 win and capping a 24 point comeback.

Back-to-back buckets from Borgertpoepping and Walker gave Western a 4-2 lead to open the ballgame. UMKC would answer with a 19-2 run that spanned nine minutes and held the Westerwinds scoreless for five minutes. A three-pointer from Heather Davis ended the run and gave the Kangaroos a 21-6 lead with 3:37 left in the first half.

A 6-0 Western run capped off by back-to-back jumpers from O'Brien cut the lead to 11 points at 24-13 with 11:25 left before the break.

After a lay-up from Wutt, back-to-back three-pointers from Davis and Jade Tinner gave UMKC a 30-15 lead heading into the locker room.

O'Brien scored her career-high 25 points on 8-of-14 (.571), including hitting 4-of-5 (.800) of her three-point attempts. Walker recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and career and game-high 11 rebounds. Wutt chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Davis led the way for the Kangaroos with 14 points, while LeAndrea Thomas added 10. Nance had a team-high seven rebounds in the loss.

Postgame Notes

? Western outshot UMKC 37.5 percent (21-56) to 31.7 percent (19-60).

? Along with the career-high 25 points, O'Brien tied a career high in rebounds with six.

? Making all three of her attempts from the free throw line, Walker extended her consecutive free throws made streak to 21.

? The win was the first win in 13 attempts on the road and snapped a 14-game road losing streak that extended to last season.

? This was the first win of the season for Western in which it trailed at halftime.

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Leslie Crane
Opening statement
“It's just an unbelievable win being down 24 points with 14 minutes left to play. Jordon (O'Brien) and Amanda (Walker) just weren't going to let this one go. Those two guards really fought to the end and just never planned on giving up. Lyndi (Thorman) also played well for us. (Lindsey) Wutt off the bench was a major factor in the win. She has been playing a whole lot of minutes lately and she could have gone out there and not played hard, but she came in, played hard and capitalized off of her minutes. It was just a never say die effort tonight from everyone.”

On keys to the comeback
“I thought holding Chazny Morris to just seven points was key for the win. We did a great job defensively all night on her. We just started picking up our game and our defense. I thought UMKC got a little complacent because we hadn't shown anything for the first 25 minutes of the game. Then a light switch went off and we started setting and hitting our screens and shot the ball like we know how.”