Complete Game Notes (pdf)
Game 1 Lady Blues vs Southwestern (Kan.)
Washburn Lady Blues (0-0, 0-0 MIAA)
vs Southwestern Moundbuilders (2-2, 0-0 KCAC)
Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Arena: Lee Arena (4,179)
Radio: Country Legends 106.9 FM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 10-3
Last Meeting: WU 108-60 on 11/16/11 (H)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 319-65 (.831) in his 13th year at WU and overall
SC Coach Dave Denly: 275-150 (.647) in 14th year at SC and overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
The Lady Blues were picked first in the MIAA coaches and media polls after winning the regular season and conference championships last year.
Washburn was picked 17th in this year's USA Today Sports national preseason poll. This is the 157th time in the last 158 that Washburn has been ranked. Southwestern is ranked 16th in the NAIA preseason poll.
The Lady Blues scored in triple digits against Southwestern last year and that marked the first time in school history Washburn scored 100+ in two straight games. They scored 111 the game before against Tabor.
Washburn is 10-3 against Southwestern. The two have played each other every year since 2006-07 with Washburn winning by at least 30 every time.
Five Lady Blues will look to make their Washburn debuts with two junior college players and three high schoolers. All five got in both exhibition games and junior
Lavonda McCall started them both.
The Lady Blues start the year with six straight at home. The home stand will end with the MIAA opener Dec. 6 against Southwest Baptist. Their only non-conference games away from home are in Las Vegas.
Tiara George had a double-double against Kansas with 10 points and 12 rebounds. She also blocked four shots. It would have been her first double-double at Washburn.
Laura Kinderknecht scored 12 points against Kansas State to lead Washburn in the final exhibition. She scored in double figures eight times last year.
Washburn loses its top three scorers but returns seven seniors and 10 total letterwinners. Five newcomers join the team, three from high school and two transfers.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and will begin his 13th year at Washburn with a 319-65 record.
McHenry has 7 MIAA regular season titles and 7 MIAA tournament championships to go along with NCAA tournament appearances in all but his 1st season, including a 2004-05 national title.
Six-game home stand to open season starts Wednesday against Southwestern
A six-game home stand to start the 2012-13 season will begin Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. as the 17th-ranked Lady Blues host Southwestern (Kan.) in Lee Arena.
The game will be carried live on Country Legends 106.9 FM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott calling the action. Links to live audio streaming and live stats can be found at wusports.com/wbb.
The Lady Blues went 29-5 last year and won the MIAA with an 18-2 mark. They also won the MIAA postseason tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Southwestern went 23-9 last year and was second in the KCAC with a 15-3 record. The Moundbuilders, ranked 16th in the NAIA preseason poll, have started this year with a 2-2 record and will host Oklahoma Wesleyan Tuesday before coming to Topeka.
Ron McHenry will start his 13th year with seven seniors, 10 total returning letterwinners and five newcomers. His team dropped a pair of exhibition games to Kansas and Kansas State as he tried to replace 61 percent of his scoring that he lost from last year.
This will be the 44th season of Lady Blues basketball. Washburn won its 800th game in school history in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year before falling in the next round.
Lady Blues picked 17th in USA Today Sports Division II preseason poll
The Lady Blues were ranked 17th in the USA Today Sports national preseason poll released October 30 after finishing 14th last year.
They have been ranked in 157 of the last 158 polls, dating back to week three of the 2002-03 season. The final poll of the 2010-11 season was the last time Washburn was not ranked.
Washburn, picked first in the MIAA coaches and media polls, is the second-highest conference team in the ranking. Pittsburg State, an Elite 8 participant last year, was picked third. Emporia State is 19th, Northeastern State is 23rd and Fort Hays State and Central Missouri received votes. Non-conference opponent Western Washington is 14th while Arkansas Tech and Drury earned votes. Ashland is the top-ranked team, getting 23 first-place votes while defending champion Shaw got eight first-place votes and a No. 9 ranking.
MIAA media and coaches pick Lady Blues to repeat as champions
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Lady Blues got more than half the MIAA coaches' top votes and won a close vote in the media poll as they were picked to finish first in both tallies during the preseason MIAA Virtual Media Day.
Washburn got eight of the 15 first-place votes from the coaches and eight of the 18 in the media poll. Pittsburg State was picked second in both polls with the Gorillas coming just three points short of the Lady Blues in the media poll.
Washburn won the MIAA last year with an 18-2 record. The Gorillas went 17-3. Pittsburg State took six first-place votes from the coaches and No. 3 Emporia State took the other. From the media, PSU tied Washburn with eight top votes and ESU, also third in that poll, took two.
MIAA newcomer Northeastern State was fourth in both polls followed by Fort Hays State and Central Missouri.
Kinderknecht leads Washburn at K-State
Senior guard
Laura Kinderknecht hit 5 of 12 shots and a pair of 3-pointers as she led Washburn with 12 points November 5 against Pittsburg State.
She scored in double figures eight times last year and averaged 5.8 points a game.
Tiara George has solid game at Kansas
Senior forward
Tiara George led Washburn with 10 points and she added 12 rebounds for what would have been her first double-double at Washburn if it were a regular season game.
George shot 5 of 11 from the field, making four of her baskets with seven rebounds in the first half. She also blocked four shots in the game.
George is Washburn's leading returning scorer with 6.0 points a game last year but she only played in 22 games, joining the team on December 17 after sitting the first semester after transferring. She scored in double figures five times and had 10+ rebounds with 13 on January 25 against Missouri Western.
Seven seniors return to lead Washburn
Seven seniors return to this year's team and among them are three four-year players:
Dana Elliott,
Laura Kinderknecht and
Laura McMullin. Two-year player
Sami McHenry will play this year as her final while
Stormye Everett,
Sierra Moeller and
Tiara George were all junior transfers last year.
Moeller is the leading returning rebounder with 6.7 a game last year but she will have to sit the first semester to save her final semester of eligibility. George is the leading returning scorer with 6.0 points a game. Kinderknecht scored 5.8 and Elliott scored 4.8 a game.
Elliott, Kinderknecht and George all started both exhibition games this year.
2012-13 Season Preview: Outlook and Schedule
The Lady Blues lost their top three scorers from last year but will hope that a senior class of seven can help lead them to repeat as MIAA champions and to a 12th straight trip to the NCAA tournament.
Joining those seven seniors are three other returners and five newcomers, including three freshmen and two junior college transfers.
Washburn went 29-5 last year and won the conference outright with an 18-2 record. The Lady Blues finished 14th in the final WBCA national poll and they will begin this year as the top team in the MIAA preseason coaches and media polls. The national preseason poll will be released October 30.
After a pair of exhibitions against NCAA Division I Kansas and Kansas State, Washburn will begin the season November 14 against Southwestern in Lee Arena. They'll play five total non-conference matches, including three against Division II opponents before starting the conference season December 6 against Southwest Baptist.
Four new teams joined the conference and with 15 total league schools, the Lady Blues will only play in-state rival Emporia State once in a conference match. The two scheduled a non-conference game January 2 in Topeka and the February 27 game in Emporia will count in the MIAA standings.
The league schedule will feature 18 games and Washburn will play Fort Hays State, Nebraska Kearney, Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri in home-away contests while playing everyone else once.
The MIAA postseason tournament has expanded and the top four teams will get a bye to the weekend event in Kansas City. The next eight teams in the standings will play each other in first round games on March fifth with Nos. 5 through 8 hosting Nos. 9 through 12 on their campus sites.
The eight remaining teams will play quarterfinal games March 8 at Municipal Auditorium and then semifinals on March 9. The championship game will be March 10.
Washburn and the MIAA will be grouped with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the Great American Conference to form the NCAA Central Region and the top eight teams from that region will play in the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament. The Elite 8 will take place March 26-29 in San Antonio, Texas.
2012-13 Season Preview: The Guards
Senior
Laura Kinderknecht will return after starting 18 times and running the Lady Blues offense. She scored 5.8 points a game and averaged 2.9 assists a game. She had seven games with five or more assists in the final half of the season and scored in double figures eight times.
Casyn Buchman and
Allyssa Nikkel will return as guards as well after playing off the bench last year as freshmen. Buchman got in all 34 games and averaged 2.7 points and about one rebound and assist a game. She scored in double figures once while hitting three 3-pointers against Northwest Missouri. McHenry hopes those numbers can improve and she can fill in some of Washburn's lost scoring. Nikkel played in 17 games and scored 17 points with six rebounds. She scored five points twice throughout the year.
Senior
Stormye Everett played her first season at Washburn last year after transferring from Western Nebraska Community College. She played an inside role in junior college and McHenry moved her to a perimeter position last year. He hopes the experience she got last year will give her confidence this year to step up and play a bigger role on the team. Last year she scored 2.8 points a game with 1.8 rebounds while getting in 17 games.
Sami McHenry will play this year, her third with the team, as her senior year after deciding to make it her last. She is a junior on the Washburn volleyball team and will join basketball once the season is over. Last year she joined the team November 28 and played in nine games with two points and four rebounds.
Dana Channel, a sophomore last year who only got into 10 games due to injury, will sit out this year with a medical redshirt. She scored 1.3 points with 1.2 rebounds a game last year.
Four of McHenry's five newcomers will play guard spots for the Lady Blues. Among them are freshmen
Jordan Baldwin,
Jordan Kramer and
Haley Pfau and transfer
Lavonda McCall.
McCall, at 6-1, will be a guard/forward combo player. She was a first team NJCAA All-American at South Georgia Technical College last year. She scored and rebounded in double figures both years for the Jets with 17.2 points and 10.3 rebounds a games as a senior. She shot 52.5 percent from the field while averaging 3.1 steals and 6.1 assists a game.
All three freshmen come from the state of Kansas and earned all-state during their playing careers. Kramer is Jefferson County North High School's leading scorer with 1,852 points in her four years. She was first team all-state her final three years and McHenry expects that she will be a deep 3-point threat that will stretch defenses.
Baldwin earned all-state and all-class her last two years at Ottawa High School. The Cyclones finished third in state her senior year as she was a McDonalds All-America. She graduated with the school record in steals (415) and rebounds (576) and was second with 1,505 points and 387 assists. She scored 15.4 points a game during her career. McHenry things she's a great player that sees the floor well and should be in Washburn's regular rotation once she's gotten used to the pace of the game.
Pfau also finished second in school history in scoring, getting 1,336 points at Oskaloosa High School. She averaged 19.8 points a game her senior year and was all-state her final three years. She also played volleyball all four years and was an all-state player her final two.
2012-13 Season Preview: The Forwards and Centers
Washburn's inside game will see five returning forwards, including four seniors, and one transfer player at center.
Though she leads the returners in rebounds and is third among scorers, senior
Sierra Moeller will have to sit out the first semester to save her final semester of eligibility for the second half of the season. Moeller led Washburn with 6.7 rebounds a game while scoring 5.6 points and blocking 25 shots. She played in and started 30 games and had double-figure rebounding games seven times and scored in double figures four times.
Senior
Tiara George played the second semester for Washburn last year after transferring and scored 6.0 points a game, making her the Lady Blues' leading returner. She started strong with double-figure scoring games in three of her first four after becoming eligible but reached double figures just two more times after that. McHenry believes that a full season should help her become a go-to player for him.
Senior
Dana Elliott played in all 34 games and started the first eight and the final four. She scored 4.8 points a game with a season-high 18 coming in the first round of the NCAA tournament against West Texas A&M. Overall, she shot 55 percent from the field while averaging 1.4 assists and 3.9 turnovers.
Senior
Laura McMullin played in 26 games and scored 3.9 points with 2.5 rebounds. She scored in double figures three times early in the year with a double-double against East Central with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Brittney Lynch is the lone returning underclassman at forward. The sophomore got in all 34 games as a freshman and scored 4.3 points a game and shot 50 percent from the field. She reached double figures twice.
McCall will play in the forward position as well as guard and fellow transfer
Bianca Fennessee, Washburn's lone player listed as a center. Like McCall, Fennessee was a junior college All-American who scored and rebounded in double figures. At 6-3, she scored 13.6 points with 15.8 rebounds a game last year at Albany Technical College while adding 3.5 blocks a game. She had a triple-double with 24 points, 23 rebounds and 12 blocks in a game last year. McHenry believes her big and long body will fit right in as MIAA post players get bigger.
Coming Up Next
The Lady Blues will continue their six-game home stand to open the season with a game November 20 against Drury in Lee Arena. Washburn fell in Springfield, Mo., last year to the Panthers but leads the all-time series, 8-3. Washburn is 5-0 against Drury in Lee Arena.
The Lady Blues will finish next week by hosting the Topeka Capitol Plaza Thanksgiving Classic with a game November 23 against Texas-Permian Basin and another November 24 against Arkansas Tech.
ATU and Drury both earned votes in the USA Today Sports national preseason poll.
