Complete game notes

Lady Blues return home for 1,000th game in program's history  . . . 
The No. 4 ranked Washburn Lady Blues will play the 1,000th game in the program's history as they play host to Central Missouri in their second MIAA game of the season. Washburn has not played in Lee Arena since a 74-60 win over Evangel on Nov. 26. Washburn (9-1, 1-0 MIAA) topped Missouri Western in their conference lid lifter on Jan. 2. The Jennies (5-5, 0-1 MIAA) fell at Pittsburg State 60-58. After Saturday's game, Washburn will have three more  games on the road before returning to host Truman on Jan. 19.

Quick Facts
Matchup: Washburn (9-1, 1-0 MIAA) vs Central Missouri (5-5, 0-1 MIAA)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 5
Time: 5:30 p.m. CST
Site: Topeka, Kan. - Lee Arena (4,179)
Radio: WIBW 580 AM / Topeka with play by play with Mark Elliott and Bruce Steinbrock
Online Audio: Through wusports.com (free)
Online Video: Through themiaa.tv ($5.50)
Live Stats: Through wusports.com (free)
Coaches: Washburn head coach Ron McHenry is 197-38 (.836) in his eighth season - McHenry is 14-2 against Central Missouri.
David Slifer is in his fourth season at Central Missouri compiling a 64-37 (.640) record at UCM and a 447-136 (.768) career mark. He is 16-15 overall against Washburn going 0-8 against WU at Central and 16-7 while at Missouri Western.
Rankings: Washburn is ranked No. 4 in the WBCA/USA Today/ESPN Preseason Coaches Poll.
Series Record: WU leads the all-time series 27-11
Streaks: WU has won the last 13 meetings
Last Meeting: WU 65-53, 2/24/07 in Topeka
Last WU win: same
Last UCM win: 58-51, 1/19/02 in Warrensburg
Worth noting: Washburn has won eight straight games in Topeka over the Jennies and have not lost since a Feb. 16, 2000 meetings to UCM in Lee Arena - 66-50

Lady Blues on radio . . .
The Lady Blues game with Central Missouri will be broadcast live on AM 580 WIBW with Mark Elliott calling the action and Bruce Steinbrock providing color commentary. The games will also be streamed live online by clicking the live audio button under Lady Blues Basketball on the WU web site at www.wusports.com by clicking the live audio link under Lady Blues Basketball.

The coaches . . .
Washburn head coach Ron McHenry has posted a 197-38 (.839) record overall and 99-26 (.792) record in the MIAA with four MIAA regular season championships from 2003-06 and the 2005 NCAA National Championship. He was named the Lady Blues head coach prior to the 2000-01 season. He is second among active women's NCAA Division II Coaches in winning percentage. McHenry was named the MIAA's Coach of the Year in 2005 and in 2006 and the Division II Bulletin National Coach of the Year in 2005. (complete bio on page 2 of notes.)
Jennies head coach Dave Slifer is in his fourth season at Central Missouri and his 19th year as a collegiate coach. Slifer (Mount Mercy, 1982) has compiled a 64-37 (.640) record at UCM and a 447-136 (.768) career mark. He is 16-15 overall against Washburn going 0-8 against WU at Central and 16-7 while at Missouri Western.

Last time out for the Lady Blues . . .
Jan. 2, 2008 - #4 Washburn 65, Missouri Western 52 • ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The No. 4 Washburn Lady Blues were held scoreless for the first 6:48 of the game falling behind 11-0 and by as many as 13-2 in the opening period, but they rallied to knock off the Griffons 65-52 in their MIAA opener in St. Joseph in the Lady Blues' 999th game in school history. Washburn will play their first home game since Nov. 26 when they take on Central Missouri (5-5, 0-1 MIAA) at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 5 in Lee Arena.
After the Griffons jumped out to a 11-0 lead as Washburn (9-1, 1-0 MIAA) missed its first eight shots from the field, Regiane Araujo put the Lady Blues on the board with a lay-up at the 13:12 mark of the half.
The Griffons would lead by as many as 11 on two different occasions before Washburn would tie the score at 21 on a Kalee Silovsky bucket 3:21 before the half. Missouri Western would regain the lead at 25-23, but Washburn scored 7 of the final 9 points of the half to take a 30-27 lead into the break.
In the second half, Washburn pushed the lead to as many as 17 in the second half as Corkey Stiger scored 14 of her game-high 22 points in the second half as she hit 5 of 9 from the field including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. She also added seven rebounds in the second half with two assists and two steals in the final 20 minutes.
With Washburn holding a 37-36 lead with 13:47 left in the game, Stiger would hit back to back 3-pointers pushing the lead back to seven. After a Janice Bright lay-up, Stiger added another three increasing the lead to nine at 48-39.
Washburn held the Griffons to 8 of 27 from the field for a 30 percent clip and 18 of 56 from the field (32 percent).
Joining Stiger in double-figure scoring was Amanda Holmes, who had 11 points and eight rebounds and Araujo had 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting.
Jill Johnson led the Griffons with 17 points.
Washburn held a 42 to 34 advantage on the glass as their bench outscored the Griffon bench 24 to 5.

Notes from the Missouri Western Game . . .
Washburn is now 36-37 all-time against the Griffons … Washburn improved to 12-6 all-time in MIAA openers … Washburn is now 678-321 all-time in 999 games as their 1,000th game will be against Central Missouri on Saturday … Ron McHenry is now 197-38 all-time in his eighth season at Washburn … the seven free throw attempts against the Griffons tied a season-low … the six 3-pointers by Corkey Stiger were an individual high for the Lady Blues this season … Kalee Silovsky had a career-high in rebounds with nine … Stiger has led the Lady Blues in scoring in the last seven games … the 37 minutes played by Jessica Mainz tied a career-high for the fourth time.

Washburn/Central Missouri series notes . . .
Saturday's meeting will be the 39th in the series between the two schools. Washburn is 27-11 all-time against the Jennies. Overall, the Lady Blues have won 13 straight over the Jennies. The Lady Blues have won the last five in Warrensburg and the last eight in Topeka. The Jennies last win in Topeka was on Feb. 16, 2000 in a 66-50 win.

Last Meeting Between Washburn and Central Missouri . . .
(Feb. 24, 2007) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The No. 6 Washburn Lady Blues broke a school record from the free throw line going 20 for 20 holding off Central Missouri 63-53 in their regular season finale improving to 24-3 and 15-3 in the MIAA.
The Lady Blues were led by senior Brooke Ubelaker who scored 20 points hitting 6 of 12 overall from the field and 4 of her 9 3-point attempts. Also reaching double figures was fellow senior Jessica Aebi who scored 16 points, tying a career high.
Washburn led by six at the break taking a 27-21 lead into intermission despite shooting 36 percent from the field. However, Washburn forced 13 first half turnovers by the Jennies.
In the second half, Washburn led by as many as 14 with 10:51 to go, but a 10-2 run by the Jennies cut the lead to six at 49-43 with 5:28 remaining. The Lady Blues pushed the lead back to 10 on two different occasions, but again the Jennies rallied to cut the lead to four at 57-53 with 0:48 remaining. With both Megan Sullivan and Amanda Holmes each collecting five fouls, Renata Germano hit four straight free throws within 14 seconds of each other and Aebi added two more stretching the lead back to 10.
The Lady Blues were outrebounded 31 to 24 and were outshot from the field by the Jennies 38 percent to 35 percent. The 20 for 20 performance from the free throw line for the Lady Blues topped the 20 for 21 outing against Pitt State on Feb. 12, 2000.
 
About Central Missouri . . .
The Jennies enter Saturday's game with a 5-5 overall record and 0-1 record after dropping their conference opener at Pittsburg State 60-58. Central Missouri has three players averaging in double figures to date: senior guard Lindsey Maple (18.5 ppg), senior forward Jojuana Jones (13.0 ppg) and sophomore guard Deidra Dace (10.2 ppg).
Jones averages a team-leading 10.2 rebounds per game.
As a team, UCM is shooting 40.9 percent from the field (227 of 555), 30.3 percent from 3-point range (60 of 193) and 75.3 percent from the free throw line (162-215).

Last time out for Central Missouri . . .
 (Jan. 2, 2008) The Central Missouri Jennies basketball team let a late lead slip away and fell at Pittsburg State 60-58 on Wednesday night. This was the MIAA opener for both teams.
UCM (5-5, 0-1) led by as many as 10 in the second half, but couldn't hold the lead as the Gorillas battled back to take their first lead of the half with :07 remaining.
The teams battled back and forth during the first half with neither team leading by more than three points before the Jennies pushed the lead to eight on a three-pointer from Kelce Goebel. UCM led by six at the break, 32-26.
The Gorillas cut the lead to four at the beginning of the second half, but the Jennies went on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 10 at 38-28. PSU responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead back to two. The Jennies pushed the lead back to nine at 54-45 with 7:07 to play, but the Gorillas ended the game on a 15-4 run. UCM still led 58-54 with just over two minutes remaining, but couldn't close out the game.
Jojuana Jones led all scorers with 20 points and pulled down a career-high 23 rebounds. The 23 rebounds tied for the second-best single game mark in Jennies history. Two other Jennies finished in double figures, Dominica Blakemore had a career-high 15 points and Deidra Dace chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.

Lady Blues Notes . . .
#3 – Brette Ulsaker – 21 minutes against MWSU was a career high
#4 – Amanda Holmes – Averaging 13 ppg and 9 rpg in last two - 14 of 18 from FT line in 2-game span
#11 – Renata Germano – Made second career start against Missouri Western
#13 – Jessica Mainz – Averaging 4.5 assists per game in last six
#14 – Alyssa Mullen – Hit first career 3-pointer against Central Oklahoma on 12/20
#20 – Hadleigh Meek – Has hit 7 of 8 FT attempts this season
#21 – Corkey Stiger – Sixth in the MIAA in scoring -- 17.2 ppg
#23 – Jacki Tipping – Both rebounds are offensive this season
#24 – Karla Tailele – Has hit last nine free throws this season
#30 – Kalee Silovsky – Nine rebounds against MWSU was a career high
#32 – Janice Bright – Averaging 4.8 rebounds per game in last five
#33 – Hope Gregory – Recorded first block of career against Central Oklahoma
#44 – Emily Gibson – Tied season high with eight minutes played against UMSL
#50 – Regiane Araujo – Reached double figures for first time in 7 games against MWSU

Lady Blues in Lee Arena . . .
In their 24th season in Lee Arena, the Lady Blues are 293-55 (.841) overall at home. 
The longest winning streak was 44 games from Dec. 1, 1990 to March 20, 1993.
The Lady Blues have won 35 straight regular season non-conference games in Lee Arena. The last defeat by a non-conference team in the regular season was to Missouri-St. Louis in a 59-51 setback on Dec. 30, 2000.
Washburn is 101-10 (.910) in home games under Ron McHenry.

Lady Blues history . . .
Washburn is 678-321 (.679 in 999 games) in its 38th season of intercollegiate action.

WU in the national poll . . .
The Washburn Lady Blues climbed from No. 7 to No. 4 latest USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll which was released Jan. 1. Washburn was ranked No. 6 in the preseason poll which was released on Oct. 31. The Lady Blues were ranked No. 8 in the final poll of the 2007-08 season after finishing with a 29-4 overall record. The poll marks the 93rd consecutive week the Lady Blues have been ranked.

Tip Ins . . .
• Head coach Ron McHenry is 28-19 against ranked teams and 26-11 when both teams are ranked in the WBCA National Poll.
• The next MIAA win for Ron McHenry will be his 100th at Washburn in conference play. He is now 99-26 in his eighth season at Washburn.
• The Lady Blues have not allowed an opponent to shoot above 50 percent in a game in a streak of 81 contests - Angelo State was the last opponent to hit 50 percent of their shots in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Springfield when they connected on 26 of 52 shots on March 12, 2005.
• The Lady Blues have held their opponents under 100 points in 261 consecutive games.
• Washburn is shooting .442 from the field (138-312) at home and .369 on the road (104-282).
• Washburn is 41 of 117 from 3-point land in home games (.350) and 27 of 96 (.281) on the road.

Up Next . . .
The Lady Blues will return to the road to play their next three games on the road at Emporia State (Jan. 9), Northwest Missouri (Jan. 12) and Fort Hays State (Jan. 16) before returning home to face Truman on Jan. 19. Following the game with the Bulldogs, the Lady Blues will have two more road games at Southwest Baptist on Jan. 22 and at Pittsburg State on Jan. 26 before returning home to play 7 of their final 10 MIAA games in Lee Arena.