Lady Blues open Holiday Classic with Sterling before facing No. 8 ranked Indiana (Pa.) . . . 
The No. 2 ranked Washburn Lady Blues will play host to the Washburn Holiday Classic by hosting Sterling (4-2) on Friday night at 7 p.m. and then No. 8 ranked Indiana (Pa.) (3-0) on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Fellow MIAA member Missouri Western will take on Indiana (Pa.) on Friday at 5 p.m. before playing Sterling on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Washburn Game Notes for weekend play

Matchup: Washburn (3-0) vs Sterling (4-2)
Date: Friday, Nov. 28 • Time: 5 p.m. CST
Sterling Series Record: WU leads 1-0
Worth noting: First meeting since 2/27/84 in an 87-60 win in Topeka

Matchup: Washburn vs Indiana (Pa.)
Indiana (Pa.) Series Record: First meeting
Worth noting: Former WU assistant coach Dustin Odum is a first-year assistant at IUP.

Date: Saturday, Nov. 29 • Time: 8 p.m. CST
Site: Topeka, Kan. - Lee Arena (3,904)
Radio: KTPK 106.9 FM for Sterling and AM 580 WIBW / Topeka for Indiana (Pa.) with play by play with Mark Elliott calling all the action.
Online Audio: Through wusports.com (free)
Television: None
Live Stats: Through wusports.com
Coaches: Washburn head coach Ron McHenry is 217-44 (.831) in his ninth season. McHenry has never coached against Sterling or Indiana (Pa.)
Sterling's Lonnie Kruse is 587-182 in his 28th season.
Indiana (Pa.) is coached by Jeff Dow. He is 4-0 in his first season at IUP and he is 113-67 in his eighth overall.
Rankings: Washburn is ranked No. 2 in the WBCA Coaches Poll. IUP is No. 8 in the WBCA poll.

Lady Blues on radio . . .
Washburn's game with Sterling will be on KTPK 106.9 FM. The Lady Blues game with Indiana (Pa.)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. Pregame show starts 15 minutes before tip.

The coaches . . .
Washburn head coach Ron McHenry has posted a 217-44 (.833) record overall and 112-30 (.789) record in the MIAA with five MIAA regular season championships and the 2005 NCAA National Championship.  McHenry has also led the Lady Blues to four MIAA Postseason Tournament titles including four of the six played in Kansas City. McHenry has the highest winning percentage (.833) in MIAA history of coaches who have at least 200 wins.
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 6 of notes.)
Sterling's Lonnie Kruse is in his 28th season as Head Coach of the Sterling College women's basketball program. He is 587-182 overall.
Indiana (Pa.) is coached by Jeff Dow who is in his first season overall as the Crimson Hawks head coach. He is 3-0 this season and he is 113-67 in his seventh season of coaching.

Last time out for the Lady Blues. . .
Nov. 25, 2008 -  TOPEKA, Kan. -- The No. 2 Washburn Lady Blues jumped out to an 11-0 lead and kept the No. 4 Drury Lady Panthers playing catch up the entire game as Washburn won 84-62 in a battle of top five teams. Washburn improves to 3-0 on the season.
In the opening minutes, Washburn pushed the lead to as many as 11 at 17-6 before Drury cut the lead to 19-17 with 5:41 to go in the half. The Lady Blues pulled back ahead by eight points entering halftime when Dayna Rodriguez hit a 3-pointer giving Washburn a 31-23 lead at the break.
The Lady Blues led 43-34 with 13:38 to go and then went on a 14-4 run over the next three minutes to pull away and the Lady Panthers would not get closer than 15 the rest of the way.
Rodriguez led the Lady Blues with 15 points off the bench. She was 5 of 6 from the field. Janice Bright scored 12 points and Stanecia Graham had 11 points. Drury was led by Katie Pritchard's 15 points.
Washburn finished 25 of 56 from the field hitting 13 of 27 from the field in the second half. The Lady Panthers were held to 37 percent shooting hitting 20 of 54 from the field.
Washburn outrebounded Drury 39-27. Kalee Silovsky led Washburn with six rebounds. 

Notes from the Drury game . . .
• The win was the 37th straight regular season non-conference victory for the Lady Blues.
• Washburn has won all four meetings between the two teams in Topeka.
• The Lady Blues are 9-3 all-time on Nov. 25. The largest victory margin in school history came on Nov. 25 during the 1983-84 season when they beat St. John's (Kan.) 113-26 in an 87-point win.
• Washburn is 105-30 all-time in the month of November.

Washburn/Sterling Series Notes . . .
Washburn leads the only meeting all-time with the Lady Warriors.  The Lady Blues won the lone contest on Feb. 27, 1984 in a first round NAIA District 10 playoff game. Joy Benton and Janelle Johnson led the Lady Blues with 19 points each. Benton also led the team with 11 rebounds. The 1983-84 Lady Blues team was the CSIC Champions and the District 10 Champions as well.

Washburn/Indiana (Pa.) Series Notes . . .
The two teams have never met.

About Sterling . . .
The Sterling College women's basketball team picked up two wins during the Warrior Classic this past weekend on the campus of Sterling College. Sterling routed Iowa Weselyan by thirty-four on Friday and then Saint Gregory's by twenty-seven on Saturday.
Sterling had four players score in double figures on Friday against Wesleyan, leading the way was senior Jacci Tinkel with 15 points. Sophomore Britany Gasper chipped in 13 followed by Catheryn Wiebe with 12 and Ashley Kraft with 11.  Sterling held Wesleyan to 38% shooting on the night and forced twenty-eight turnovers.
On Saturday, the story wasn't any different as the Lady Warriors cranked up the defense again and held Saint Gregory's to 32% shooting from the field and forced them to turn the ball over twenty-seven times.  Sterling was led in scoring by Kraft with twenty-six points on 11-14 shooting from the field. Senior Ashley Gasper and sophomore Jannica Schultze had eleven a piece and Tinkel had nine points and five assists on the night.
Sterling is 4-2 this season. 

Last time out for Indiana (Pa.) . . .
Jahzinga Tracey had game highs of 20 and 11 rebounds and Lacey Claar hit four 3-pointers en route to a career-high 16 points to lead IUP to a 69-52 victory over Pitt Johnstown in its home opener Tuesday at Memorial Field House.
The win was the third straight to open the season for the Crimson Hawks, who earlier in the day climbed to No. 8 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association national poll. Pitt Johnstown dropped to 1-4. IUP has defeated the Mountain Cats three in a row after Pitt Johnstown won 34 of the first 38 games in the all-time series.
Tracey hit 9 of 13 shots from the field, including 7 of 8 in the first half when her 15 points helped IUP build a 44-22 lead at intermission. Claar came off the bench to make 3 of 4 from long distance and scored 11 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Tracey also had three assists, four steals and a blocked shot while Claar dished out four assists and made four steals. IUP had a total of 15 steals and forced 26 Mountain Cat turnovers. Kylie Miller was the third Crimson Hawk in double figures, finishing with 11 points while Kierstin Filla had a game-high nine assists.
Andrea Dalton led Pitt Johnstown with 17 points and Lindsay Cale had 12 to go along with five assists. Sheena Aden had a team-leading seven rebounds and made three steals.
IUP never trailed in the game and used a 15-2 run midway through the first half to turn a three-point lead into a 31-15 advantage with 7:42 left in the opening half. Claar got the surge started with a 3-pointer and scored eight points and came up with three steals and two assists during the decisive run.
Two free throws by Miller and a layup by Marcia Mpfumo gave the Crimson Hawks their 22-point halftime lead. Pitt Johnstown got as close as 15 when a basket by Qiuana Brown cut the deficit to 51-36 at the 9:51 mark of the second half.
Three consecutive layups by Miller, Staci Heberling and Tracey, the last two off steals, rebuilt the margin to 21. IUP led by as many as 26 on two occasions before Pitt Johnstown scored the final nine points.

Lady Blues in Lee Arena . . .
In their 25th season in Lee Arena, the Lady Blues are 304-56 (.842) overall at home. Washburn won their 300th game against Emporia State on Feb. 23, 2008. The longest winning streak was 44 games from Dec. 1, 1990 to March 20, 1993.
The Lady Blues have won 38 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 113-11 (.909) in home games under Ron McHenry. Five of the 11 losses came in his first year on the Lady Blues bench. In the last seven seasons, Washburn is 105-6 (.944).

Lady Blues history . . .
Washburn is 698-327 (.681 in 1,022 games) in its 40th season of intercollegiate action.

WU in the national poll . . .
(Nov. 25, 2008) The Washburn Lady Blues basketball team climbed two spots to No. 2 in the WBCA USA Today ESPN Division II Coaches Poll. The Lady Blues have been ranked in 96 consecutive top 25 polls and have received votes in the last 111 top 25 coaches polls.

Lady Blues Notes . . .
#3 • Brette Ulsaker • G • 5-9 • Jr. • Six field goal attempts against Drury a season high
#4 • Stanecia Graham • F • 6-1 • Sr. • Had first block of the season against Drury
#5 • Jacki Tipping • G • 5-10 • Jr. • Will miss season after having ankle surgery in late September
#10 • Lauren Henry • G • 5-4 • Fr. • Scored first points of season hitting two free throws against Drury
#11 • Renata Germano • C • 6-2 • Sr. • 9 of 15 from the field this season
#13 • Jessica Mainz • G • 5-9 • Sr. • Needs three rebounds for 300 for career
#14 • Alyssa Mullen • F • 5-11 • So. • Tied career high with 7 points in second consecutive game against Southwestern
#20 • Hadleigh Meek • G • 5-8 • So. • Set new career high with four assists against Southwestern
#21 • Cassie Lombardino • C • 6-3 • Fr. • 3 of 6 from the field this season
#24 • Karla Tailele • G • 5-6 • Sr. • 4 of 10 from 3-point range this season
#25 • Stevi Schultz • G • 5-9 • Fr. • Has hit 3 of 7 3-pointers this season
#30 • Kalee Silovsky • F • 6-0 • Sr. • 4 3-point attempts against Drury was a career-high
#32 • Janice Bright • G • 5-9 • Sr. • 12 points against Drury was a season high
#33 • Hope Gregory • G • 5-10 • So. • 7 of 12 from 3-point range this season
#40 • Dayna Rodriguez • F • 6-2 • Jr. • Hit all 4 free throw attempts against Drury
#42 • Raychel Boling • F • 6-0 • Jr. • Will sit out the season after transferring from Fort Hays State
#44 • Emily Gibson • F • 6-1 • So. • Averaging 4.0 rebounds per game

Tip-Ins . . .
• Washburn is 5-2 on Nov. 28.
• The Lady Blues are 6-2 all-time on Nov. 29.
• Washburn is 105-30 all-time in the month of November.

up Next . . .
Washburn will open MIAA play with home games against Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 3 and Northwest Missouri on Dec. 6 before hitting the road for the first time in the regular season against Truman on Dec. 13.