Complete Game Notes (pdf)
Game 15: Lady Blues at Lincoln
No. 14 Washburn Lady Blues (11-3, 5-1 MIAA)
at Lincoln University Blue Tigers (8-8, 3-5 MIAA)
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Jefferson City, Mo.
Arena: Jason Gym (2,400)
Radio: AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 21-0
Last Meeting: WU 72-47 on 02/25/12 (H)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 330-68 (.829) in his 13th year at WU and overall
LU Coach Nicole Collier: 8-8 (.500) in her first year at LU and overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
Head coach
Ron McHenry will coach his 399th game Thursday at Lincoln.
Washburn fell out of the top 10 with a No. 14 ranking in Tuesday's USA Today Sports poll.
Washburn will be in its second of three straight games on the road and fifth of six out of seven on the road. The Lady Blues are currently 3-1 during this stretch.
After the Lincoln game and a game at Lindenwood Saturday, the Lady Blues will play four straight at home.
Washburn is 21-0 all-time against Lincoln.
Laura Kinderknecht moved to third in career 3-pointers at Washburn, now with 156. She recently passed Corkey Stiger and Lora Westling in the ranking.
Kinderknecht is fourth in the MIAA averaging 15.6 points a game and third with 2.8 3-pointers made per game.
She's scoring 18.3 points a game during MIAA contests and shooting 47 percent.
Tiara George is second in the NCAA and first in the MIAA shooting .617 from the field.
Lavonda McCall is shooting .597 from the field, giving Washburn the top two shooters in the MIAA.
The Lady Blues were picked first in the MIAA coaches and media polls after winning the regular season and conference championships last year.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 330-68 in his 13th year at Washburn.
McHenry will coach his 400th game at Washburn on January 26 at Lindenwood.
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.
14th-ranked Lady Blues look to rebound as they start week at Lincoln
The Lady Blues will look to rebound from their first MIAA loss of the season as they travel to Lincoln Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. game at Jason Gym. The game will be carried on AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott calling the action.
No. 14 Washburn (11-3, 5-1 MIAA) had a five-game winning streak halted in a 52-43 loss Saturday at Northeastern State. The Lady Blues return to the road for their second of three straight away from home. Lincoln is 8-8 overall and 3-5 in the MIAA after a 72-63 win at Lindenwood Saturday.
The Lady Blues are 21-0 all-time against Lincoln including a 4-0 mark since the Blue Tigers rejoined the MIAA in 2010-11.
Washburn will follow the game at Lincoln with a 1 p.m. game Saturday at Lindenwood.
Lady Blues drop five spots to 14th in latest national poll
The Lady Blues' first MIAA loss of the season caused them a five-spot drop to 14th in the USA Today Sports national coaches poll released Tuesday. Washburn was ninth last week but remains the highest ranked MIAA team.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 165 of the last 166 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.
Central Missouri is right behind Washburn at 16th and Pittsburg State is 18th. Fort Hays State dropped out of the ranking but joined Truman and Northeastern State in receiving votes in the poll. Previous opponent Western Washington is fifth in the nation.
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.
George second in the nation and first in the MIAA shooting 62% from the field
Senior forward
Tiara George is shooting .617 from the field, second best in NCAA II and first in the MIAA. She's shot 50 percent or better in all but two games and better than 70 percent four times. George is second on the team and 14th in the MIAA scoring 12.1 points a game.
Lavonda McCall is right behind her shooting 60 percent, second best in the MIAA.
George is Washburn's leading returning scorer from last year but was scoring just 7.2 points a game in her first season at Washburn after transferring from Angelina Community College.
Lady Blues 3-1 in current road swing
The Lady Blues are about to play their fifth game on the road in a stretch of six out of seven played away from Lee Arena. Washburn started that stretch with a three-game road trip in early January. The Lady Blues then returned home for a home win then lost Saturday at Northeastern State. They are now finishing the stretch with two more on the road.
Washburn went 3-0 during the first road stretch with a five-point win at Central Oklahoma, a three-point win at Fort Hays State and then a 29-point win at Nebraska-Kearney.
Laura Kinderknecht scored at least 19 in each of the first three games on the road and averaged 19.3 points a game while shooting .550 from the field and .500 from 3-point range.
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 play just their second ever game against Lindenwood Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in St. Charles. Washburn is 2-0 in the all-time series but the two haven't played since November 25, 1999.
