Complete game notes (pdf)
Lady Blues vs Benedictine
Washburn Lady Blues (4-0, 0-0 MIAA)
vs Benedictine Ravens (11-1, 1-0 HAAC)
Date: Monday, December 3, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Arena: Lee Arena (4,179)
Radio: AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 31-7
Last Meeting: WU 81-65 on 12/12/06 (H)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 323-65 (.832) in his 13th year at WU and overall
BC Coach Chad Folsom: 243-125 (.659) in his 12th year at BC and overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
Washburn jumped a spot to 12th in last week's USA Today Sports national poll. This is the 159th time in the last 160 that Washburn has been ranked. A new poll comes out Tuesday.
Benedictine is 11-1 and will be playing this game as an exhibition. The Ravens beat Evangel 64-52 Saturday.
The Lady Blues are 31-7 all-time against the Ravens. They last met in 2006-07 and had played each other six straight times at that point.
Washburn will get eight days off between its win November 24 in the Thanksgiving Classic and this game.
The Lady Blues were picked first in the MIAA coaches and media polls after winning the regular season and conference championships last year.
The Lady Blues start the year with six straight at home. The home stand will end with the MIAA opener Thursday against Southwest Baptist. Their only non-conference games away from home are in Las Vegas.
Tiara George had her first career double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds Nov. 24 against ATU. Both of those totals were career highs.
She's scored in double figures in all four games and has led or tied for the team lead each time.
George and
Laura Kinderknecht have both scored in double figures in all four games this year.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 323-65 in his 13th year at Washburn.
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.
Lady Blues host Benedictine Monday in final non-conference tune-up
The 12th-ranked Lady Blues will play their fifth straight home game Monday in Lee Arena as they host Benedictine at 7 p.m. Washburn improved to 4-0 with two wins over Thanksgiving weekend but will have had eight days off leading up to the BC game.
The Lady Blues beat Texas-Permian Basin 66-43 on November 23 and then topped Arkansas Tech 77-65 the next day. Benedictine is 11-1 after a win Saturday over Evangel. The Ravens will play this game as an exhibition.
The week will continue for Washburn Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Southwest Baptist as those two teams open MIAA play. It will mark the end of Washburn's six-game home stand that started the season.
Tiara George has scored in double figures in all four games and had her first double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds against ATU, both career highs. She's scoring 18.5 points a game.
Lady Blues continue climb with No. 12 national ranking
The Lady Blues climbed once again, this time one spot to 12th in the nation, as the USA Today Sports Coaches' Poll was released last Tuesday by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The Lady Blues were ranked 13th the last week and were 17th in the preseason poll.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 159 of the last 160 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.
Pittsburg State remains the highest-ranked MIAA team at third in the country. Emporia State is 20th and Fort Hays State is 23rd, putting all four MIAA Kansas schools in the ranking and making them the only ranked MIAA teams. Non-conference opponent Western Washington is eighth and Wisconsin-Parkside is 16th. Central Missouri, Drury, Northeastern State, Missouri Western, Central Oklahoma and Truman are all receiving votes.
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.
Strong inside game leads to four straight double-figure games for George
Washburn has played strong inside games in its first four competitions. Starting forward
Tiara George is averaging 18.5 points a game and shooting 67 percent. Overall, Washburn has scored 164 of its 302 points (.543) in the paint.
Everybody plays, everybody scores
All 13 Lady Blues in uniform got into the game and scored in the season-opening 92-52 win over Southwestern on November 14. Junior transfers
Lavonda McCall and
Bianca Fennessee, as well as freshmen
Haley Pfau,
Jordan Baldwin and
Jordan Kramer all scored their first points as Lady Blues.
Seniors
Sierra Moeller and
Sami McHenry did not suit up for the game. Moeller is sitting this semester to save her final semester of eligibility for the spring and McHenry just finished her junior year with the Lady Blues volleyball team last week. She is expected to join the basketball team this week.
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.
Coming Up Next
The Lady Blues will finish their six-game, season-opening home stand Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Southwest Baptist in Lee Arena. The game will be the MIAA opener for both squads. Washburn has won 10 straight against the Bearcats and 12 straight at home.
