Game 25 Matchup: Washburn (21-3, 14-3 MIAA) vs Missouri Southern (17-6, 11-5 MIAA) Date: Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 Time: 5:30 p.m. CST Site: Topeka, Kan. -- Lee Arena (3,907) Coaches: Washburn head coach Ron McHenry is 235-47 (.832) in his ninth season. He is 12-5 against MSSU. Maryann Mitts is 133-87 in her eighth year at Missouri Southern and 216-144 in her 13th year overall. She is 4-11 against WU at MSSU and 5-20 against WU overall. She was 1-9 while coaching at Rockhurst. Rankings: Washburn is ranked No. 9 in the WBCA Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the 2/11 NCAA South Central Regional Rankings. MSSU was ranked sixth in the 2/11 regional poll. Series Record: WU leads the all-time series 38-25 Last Meeting: MSSU 59-58, 1/10/09 in Joplin, Mo. Last WU win: WU 72-59, 2/6/08 in Joplin Last MSSU win: See above Worth noting: Washburn has won 12 of the last 16 meetings and 16 of the last 21 meetings

Radio: AM 580 WIBW Web Stream Internet: themiaa.tv (free) Live Stats: Through WU (free) Washburn Game Notes WBB Page Roster Statistics Schedule Missouri Southern WBB Page Roster Statistics Schedule

No. 9 Lady Blues return home for rematch with Missouri Southern / WBCA's Pink Zone Night . . . 
The No. 9 ranked Lady Blues (21-3, 14-3 MIAA) return home for the first time in three games to face Missouri Southern (17-6, 11-5 MIAA) and take part in the WBCA's Pink Zone event. The WBCA's “Pink Zone” initiative is a global, unified effort for the WBCA's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.  The benefactor of this initiative is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, named for the recently passed legendary North Carolina State women's basketball coach Kay Yow, who lost her own fight with breast cancer. Washburn has won their last seven games topping Southwest Baptist 99-93 on Valentine's Day. Missouri Southern fell to No. 8 Emporia State last time out 79-56.
Lady Blues on radio . . .
Washburn's game with Missouri Southern will be on AM 580 WIBW. 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 235-47 (.835) record overall and 126-33 (.791) 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 along with eight-straight 20-wins seasons. McHenry has the highest winning percentage (.835) in MIAA history of coaches who have at least 200 wins. McHenry is 32-13 when both teams are ranked in the top 25 and 34-21 overall against top 25 teams.
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.)
Missouri Southern head coach Maryann Mitts is 133-87 in her eighth year at Missouri Southern and 216-144 in her 13th year overall. Mitts is 5-20 overall against Washburn going 4-11 at Missouri Southern and 1-9 while the coach at her alma mater Rockhurst

Last time out for the Lady Blues. . .
(Feb. 14, 2009) BOLIVAR, Mo. -- The No. 9 ranked Washburn Lady Blues shot a blistering 58 percent from the field scoring a season-high 99 points in a 99-93 win over Southwest Baptist.
The Lady Blues used a 20-6 run to start the second half over the first eight-plus minutes and would stretch their lead to as many as 20 at the 10:34 mark of the second half. The Bearcats used back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers pulling with 11 at 6:20 left in the game. Two of the three long range shots were by Mia Gilreath for Southwest Baptist. After a pair of lay ups by Jessica Mainz, the Bearcats hit a 3-pointer cutting the lead back to 11 at 87-78. With Washburn holding an 89-78 lead, Janice Bright hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 2:30 to play giving Washburn a 92-78 lead.
The Lady Blues turned the ball over on their next possession and Courtney Heady hit her third 3-pointer of the game pulling SBU back to within 11 at 92-81 with 1:42 to play. Heady hit another 3-pointer pulling them to 92-84 with 43 seconds left. After back-to-back free throws by Rachel Graves, Washburn's Bright went to the line with 34.9 seconds remaining and hit both free throws stretching the lead back to eight. SBU missed their next field goal attempt and Bright went back to the line hitting both giving Washburn a 96-86 lead with 27.4 seconds in the game.
Washburn finished 5 of 6 from the free throw line to finish the game and SBU's Graves hit a jumper in the paint to cut the final margin to six to end the game and securing their seventh straight win.
Washburn jumped out to an 18-8 lead on a 3-pointer by Karla Tailele, but the Bearcats came back to take a 32-30 lead. The Lady Blues took the lead for good in the first half on a lay up by Stanceica Graham at 34-32 with 3:13 to play. Washburn stretched the lead to as many as seven before taking a 47-42 lead into the break after shooting 17 of 31 from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Washburn hit 5 of 11 3-point attempts. The Bearcats were 13 of 24 from the field (54 percent) and hit 13 of 14 free throws compared to 8 of 10 for the Lady Blues.
Bright led the Lady Blues with 27 points with 14 coming in the opening period. Bright was 6 of 10 from 3-point range. Graham scored 15 off the bench on 6 of 10 shooting. Kalee Silovsky recorded a career high 13 points. Jessica Mainz had 12 points with seven assists and five rebounds. Dayna Rodriguez had 10 points and six rebounds.
Gilreath led five Bearcats in double figures with 19 points. Graves had 18 and Heady and Creed each had 12.
Washburn finished 36 of 62 from the field and 8 of 17 from 3-point range. Washburn was 19 of 31 in the second half hitting 61 percent. The Bearcats were 31 of 61 hitting 51 percent. The Bearcats were 12 of 26 from 3-point range.
Washburn outrebounded the Bearcats 34 to 19. The Lady Blues turned 12 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points.

Washburn/Southwest Baptist Leftovers . . .
• Washburn leads the all-time series 27-11 and have won 18 of the last 19 meetings.
• Washburn has won 10 of the last 11 in Bolivar over the Bearcats.
• Ron McHenry is 18-3 overall against Southwest Baptist.
• Washburn is 716-330 all-time in the program's history.
• Washburn is 9-4 in the program's history on Feb. 14.
• Under McHenry the Lady Blues are 71-0 when they score more than 81 points in a game and 1-1 when their opponents score at least 90 points.

Washburn/Missouri Southern series notes . . .
Thursday's meeting will be the 64th in the series between the two schools. The teams split the two regular season meetings last season with each team winning away from their home court. MSSU won the first meeting this season in Joplin 59-58. Washburn leads the all-time series 38-25. Washburn has won 12 of the last 16 meetings and 16 of the last 21 meetings. The two teams have never met in Kansas City during the conference tournament. The Lady Blues hold a 3-1 advantage over the Lions overall in MIAA tournament play. Ron McHenry is 12-5 against Missouri Southern overall. Lions head coach Maryann Mitts is 5-20 overall against Washburn going 4-11 at Missouri Southern and 1-9 at Rockhurst.

About Missouri Southern . . .
Missouri Southern is 17-6, 11-5 in the MIAA and ranked No. 6 in the Feb. 11 South Central Region. They have won eight of their last 10 games and are 8-3 at home this season. India Wood is the leading scorer for MSSU at 12.6 points per game while Myosha Barnes adds 12.0 points per game. Danielle DeVader chips in 10.6 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds off the bench.

Last meeting between Washburn and Missouri Southern . . .
(Jan. 10, 2009) JOPLIN, Mo. -- The No. 3 ranked Lady Blues held Missouri Southern to one field goal in the final 5:07 of the game but Washburn was nearly as cold hitting two in the same stretch of time as a late-game rally fell short as the Lady Blues fell 59-58.
Down the stretch, neither team scored in the final 3:09 of the game while Washburn was holding a slim 57-56 lead. Missouri Southern tied the score and eventually took the lead at 58-57 on a pair of free throws by Nichole Helfrich. Washburn's Janice Bright missed a jumper and Myosha Barnes was fould with 16 seconds remaining. She hit one free throw pushing the Lions to a 59-57 lead. Bright's 3-pointer with three seconds remaining was off the mark, but Karla Tailele picked up the rebound and was fouled with no time remaining. She connected on the first free throw, but the second rimmed out and Missouri Southern picking up the 59-58 win.
Washburn trailed by as many as 13 in the first half, their largest defict all season, but reduced the difference to five at 32-27 going into the locker room. Washburn came out of the gates cold in the opening frame not hitting their first field goal of the night until the 14:03 mark when Hope Gregory hit a lay up off an offensive rebound snapping a beginning stretch of 0 of 8 to start the game finishing 6 of 24 from the field in the first half. They were 13 of 18 from the free throw line.
Washburn did raise their shooting percentage in the second half to 39 percent, but finished 15 of 47 for the game compared to the Lions' 18 of 54.
The Lady Blues committed 18 turnovers leading to 16 Missouri Southern points while the Lions coughed up 10 leading to 13 Washburn points. Washburn held a 43 to 30 advantage on the glass.
Bright led the Lady Blues with 20 points and Stanecia Graham scored 10. India Woods led four Lions in double figures with 21 points.

Last time out for Missouri Southern . . .
(Feb. 14, 2009)  Joplin, Mo. - The No. 8-ranked Emporia State Lady Hornets came out firing on all cylinders and went on to defeat the Missouri Southern Lions 79-56 Saturday evening (Feb. 14) at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.  Even with the loss, the Lions hang onto the fourth spot in the MIAA with an 11-5 conference record.
The Lady Hornets opened the contest on a 16-2 run in the first 5:30 minutes.  Ida Edwards and Sophia Lenard combined for 10 points to lead the charge.
Southern got it within 18-10 on a three from India Wood, but the Lady Hornets quickly expanded the lead back to 14 on a combined eight points from Allie Renberg and Edwards to lead 26-12.
Wood again helped the Lions climb back to within single-digits with five consecutive points to cut the lead to 26-17 with 8:50 left in the second half.
The Lady Hornets continued to keep the Lions at arms length with a 14-6 spurt for their biggest lead of the half at 40-23 and maintained a 44-27 edge at the half.
The deficit was 49-31 when a pair of free throws by Nichole Helfrich and a layup from Wood made it a 14-point game four minutes into the second half.
But Renberg and Edwards again helped the Lady Hornets hold off the Lions by combining to all 10 points of a 10-4 spurt that put ESU up by their largest margin to that point at 59-39 with 10:33 remaining.  The Lions could get no closer than 16 from that point.
Helfrich led the Lions with 18 points and six rebounds, including making all 10 of her free-throw attempts.  Wood also reached double-figures with 10.
Edwards was a perfect 10-of-10 from the field and had a game-high 22 for the Lady Hornets (21-3, 15-2 MIAA).  Renberg scored 13 and a game-high eight boards.  Andrea Leiker also had 13 and Lenard added 11 along with a game-high nine assists.
The Lady Hornets shot 51.7 percent (30-of-58) overall, including a red-hot 56 percent (14-of-25) in the second half.
Southern managed a 33 percent (18-of-54) shooting clip overall.

Lady Blues in Lee Arena . . .
In their 25th season in Lee Arena, the Lady Blues are 313-57 (.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 40 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 122-12 (.910) in home games under Ron McHenry. Five of the 12 losses came in his first year on the Lady Blues bench. In the last seven seasons, Washburn is 114-7 (.942).

Lady Blues history . . .
Washburn is 716-330 (.683 in 1,046 games) in its 40th season of intercollegiate action.

WU in the national poll . . .
(Feb. 10, 2009) The Washburn Lady Blues basketball team climbed from No. 10 to No. 9 in the WBCA USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 coaches poll which was released today. The Lady Blues have been ranked in 105 consecutive top 25 polls and have received votes in the last 120 top 25 coaches polls.

WU and the NCAA Regional Rankings. . .
(Feb. 11, 2009) The Lady Blues moved to No. 7 in the second edition of the NCAA South Central Regional Rankings which were released this week. The Lady Blues moved from No. 9 in the previous rankings. Washburn has three less D2 losses than two teams ranked ahead of them in the rankings. In the D2 in region records, the Lady Blues have three losses (all in the MIAA) trailing four teams who have more D2 losses. Washburn topped Indiana (Pa.), who is ranked No. 2 in the Atlantic Region. Washburn topped IUP 72-62 in overtime in Lee Arena on Nov. 29. Washburn also topped the Midwest Region's No. 6 team in Drury when they defeated the Lady Panthers 84-62 on Nov. 25 in Topeka. The wins over UMSL and Drury both count as regional wins for the Lady Blues.
                                             Overall Record  Division II              In-Region Record
1. St. Mary's (Tex.)                     18-2-0                                                16-2-0
2. West Tex. A&M    18-3-0                                                18-3-0
3. Central Okla.                          16-3-0                                                16-3-0
4. Southeastern Okla.               12-6-0                                                12-5-0
5. Emporia St.    15-3-0                                                15-3-0
6. Mo. Southern St.                    13-5-0                                                13-5-0
7. Washburn                               17-3-0                                                14-3-0
8. Texas A&M - Kingsville         13-8-0                                                13-8-0
9. Northeastern St.                    12-8-0                                                12-8-0
10. Abilene Christian                14-7-0                                                13-7-0

Following a Lady Blues loss . . .
• Following a loss, the Lady Blues are 34-10 under head coach Ron McHenry.
• In the 34 wins, the average margin of victory has been 11.1 points. In the last six-plus years (including the 2003-04 season), the Lady Blues are 18-0 following a loss with an average victory margin of 18.1 points per game.

Tip-Ins . . .
• Washburn is 8-4 in the program's history on Feb. 19.
• Washburn has kept opponents under 100 in 308 consecutive games.
• The Lady Blues are 84 of 161 (.522) from the field in the last five minutes of games this season compared to their opponents who are shooting 75 of 187 (.401).
• Washburn is shooting 278 of 711 (.391) from the field in the first half of games this season and 318 of 657 (.484) in the second half of games this season.
• Washburn is scoring 7.3 more points per game in the second half compared to the first half of games this season (39.2 to 31.9).
• In the Lady Blues' 21 wins this season, Washburn has six players averaging at least six points per game - in the three losses, only four are averaging at least 6.0 ppg.
• Janice Bright has scored at a 25.7 ppg average in the three losses and 17.4 in the 21wins. She is the only Lady Blue to average double figures in the three losses. She is also the only Lady Blue to average double figures in home games this season (16.8 ppg).
• The Lady Blues are shooting 43 percent from the field in road games this season (269 of 633). They are hitting 72 of 217 3-pointers (.332) and 163 of 211 free throws (.773). Washburn is averaging 70.3 ppg in road games and allowing 62.2.
• Washburn's starters are outscoring opponents starters this season by a 44.1 to 43.8 ppg average or 1059 to 1052 … Washburn's bench is outscoring their opponents bench 28.0 to 14.8 ppg or 672 to 356 on the season.

Under head coach Ron McHenry . . .
• McHenry moved into seventh on the all-time win chart passing former Central Missouri head coach John Pye (1985-95) who was 228-68 for the Jennies. McHenry enters the MSSU game with a 235-47 record. In sixth place on the MIAA win chart is former SBU head coach Jim Middleton (1994-2008) who was 239-158 on the Bearcats' bench.
• Washburn is 203-13 when leading at the half.
• Washburn is 71-0 when scoring at least 81 points.
• When opponents are held to 70 points or below, Washburn is 177-32 … when opponents are held to 60 points or less, the Lady Blues are 163-15.
• Washburn is 224-9 when leading with five minutes to go in the game.
• Washburn is 197-10 when outshooting their opponent.
• Washburn is 34-21 against ranked teams and the Lady Blues' record against ranked teams when both are ranked in the top 25 is 32-13.

Lady Blue Notes. . .
#3 • Brette Ulsaker • G • 5-9 • Jr. • Career highs at SBU in FT's (4) FTA's (6), steals (4) and minutes (29)
#4 • Stanecia Graham • F • 6-1 • Sr. • 21of 33 from the field in the last five games (11.0 ppg)
#5 • Erica Brown • G • 5-9 • Jr. • Had career high of 6 FT's and 10 FTA's in first meeting against MSSU
#10 • Lauren Henry • G • 5-4 • Fr. • Saw first action against FHSU after having appendix removed before Thanksgiving
#11 • Renata Germano • C • 6-2 • Sr. • 28 career blocks is 24th all-time at Washburn
#13 • Jessica Mainz • G • 5-9 • Sr. • Averaging 8.3 ppg, 7.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game in last four
#14 • Alyssa Mullen • F • 5-11 • So. • 21 of 48 rebounds on offensive side
#20 • Hadleigh Meek • G • 5-8 • So. • 4 of 9 from the field this season
#21 • Cassie Lombardino • C • 6-3 • Fr. • Two offensive rebounds in last two games played
#23 • Jacki Tipping • G • 5-10 • Jr. • Redshirting after having preseason ankle surgery
#24 • Karla Tailele • G • 5-6 • Sr. • 63 3-pointers are 15th all-time at Washburn
#25 • Stevi Schultz • G • 5-9 • Fr. • Scored 5 points in 3 minutes against UCM hitting a 3-pointer
#30 • Kalee Silovsky • F • 6-0 • Sr. • Career highs in points (13), FG's made (6) and assists (3) at SBU
#32 • Janice Bright • G • 5-9 • Sr. • 64 3-pointers this season is fourth on WU single season chart
#33 • Hope Gregory • F • 5-10 • So. • 47 3-pointers rank 21st all-time at Washburn
#40 • Dayna Rodriguez • F • 6-2 • Jr. • 7 of 17 from the field in the last two games (averaging 9.0 ppg)
#42 • Raychel Boling • F • 6-0 • Jr. • Redshirting after transferring from Fort Hays State
#44 • Emily Gibson • F • 6-1 • So. • Has played in 10 games scoring six points hitting all four free throw attempts

NCAA Regional dates and elite eight dates have changed . . .
This year's NCAA South Central Regional dates have been changed to the 13, 14, and 16th of March and the Elite Eight in San Antonio, Texas has moved to the 24, 25 and 27th of March with the championship game scheduled for a Friday instead of the normal Saturday title game.

Up Next . . .
Following the game with Missouri Southern on Thursday, Washburn will make one more regular season road trip to Pittsburg State on Feb. 21 before wrapping up the regular season on Feb. 25 against Emporia State on senior night. The MIAA's regular season will wrap up on Feb. 28, but the Lady Blues will have an “off night” as the other 10 schools will play their final regular season games. The MIAA Postseason Tournament will start on March 6.