Complete Game Notes (pdf)
Game 17: Lady Blues vs Missouri Southern
No. 9 Washburn Lady Blues (13-3, 7-1 MIAA)
vs Missouri Southern State Lions (10-7,4-5 MIAA)
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Arena: Schendel Court at Lee Arena (3,904)
Radio: WIBW 580 AM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 44-26
Last Meeting: WU 75-69 on 02/15/12 (A)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 332-68 (.830) in his 13th year at WU and overall
MSSU Coach Maryann Mitts: 185-139 (.571) in 12th year at MSSU and 268-189 (.586) in 15th year overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
Washburn has moved back into the top 10 with a No. 9 spot in Tuesday's USA Today Sports national poll.
Washburn just played six of seven games on the road and went 5-1 during the six road games and out-scored opponents by 12 points a game.
The MSSU game will mark the halfway point of the 18-game MIAA schedule. The Lady Blues lead the conference with a 7-1 record while three one-loss teams are right behind them.
Washburn is 44-26 all-time against MSSU and has won five straight in the series.
Laura Kinderknecht moved to third in career 3-pointers at Washburn, now with 164. She had a career-high six 3-pointers last Thursday at Lincoln.
Kinderknecht is third in the MIAA averaging 15.7 points a game and second with 2.9 3-pointers made per game.
She's scoring 17.8 points a game during MIAA contests and shooting 48 percent.
Tiara George is fourth in the NCAA and second in the MIAA shooting .608 from the field.
Lavonda McCall is shooting .610 from the field to lead the MIAA, giving Washburn the top two shooters in the MIAA. She does not have enough makes to qualify for the NCAA ranking.
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 coached his 400th game Thursday at Lincoln. He entered the year as the winningest active coach in NCAA II.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 332-68 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 return to Lee Arena to host MSSU and start four-game home stand
The ninth-ranked Lady Blues will return to Schendel Court at Lee Arena Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to host Missouri Southern. Washburn is returning from a three-game road trip and a stretch of playing six of seven on the road.
The game will be carried on 580 WIBW AM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott calling the action.
Washburn won twice last week at Lincoln and Lindenwood to jump back into the national top 10 and improve to 13-3 overall and 7-1 in the MIAA. The Lady Blues lead the league with three two-loss teams right behind them. The MSSU game will mark the midway point of the 18-game conference season.
Missouri Southern has lost four straight including at Emporia State and at home against Northeastern State last week. The Lions sit at 10-7 overall and 4-5 in the MIAA.
Washburn leads the all-time series against Missouri Southern, 44-26 and has won five straight in the series.
McHenry just coached 400th career game
Washburn head coach
Ron McHenry coached his 400th career game, all with the Lady Blues, Saturday at Lindenwood.
He's gone 332-68 in his 13 years and with his .830 winning percentage, McHenry entered the year with the highest winning percentage in NCAA II among active coaches with at least five years of experience. He's second all-time (active or not) among coaches with at least 10 years.
McHenry has 11 20-win seasons and he needs seven more this year to give him 12 out of 13. His teams have gone to 11 straight NCAA appearances with eight MIAA titles.
Lady Blues move back into top 10 with No. 9 ranking in national poll
The Lady Blues won twice last week to end a three-game road trip and move them back into the top 10 with a tie for the No. 9 spot in Tuesday's USA Today Sports national poll.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 166 of the last 167 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. This is Washburn's 119th time in the national top 10.
Central Missouri is right behind Washburn at No. 11 and Truman entered the ranking at 22nd. Pittsburg State dropped out of the ranking but joined Fort Hays State and Northeastern State in receiving votes in the poll.
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.
Lady Blues have top two shooters in the MIAA
Senior forward
Tiara George is shooting .608 from the field, second best in MIAA and fourth in the nation when statistical reports were released Monday. 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 21st in the MIAA scoring 11.3 points a game.
Lavonda McCall leads the MIAA shooting .610 from the field but she doesn't have enough made field goals to qualify for the NCAA ranking. She's shot 50 percent or better in four games and over 65 percent 10 times.
George is Washburn's leading returning scorer from last year but scored just 7.2 points a game in her first season at Washburn after transferring from Angelina Community College.
Lady Blues finish road swing with 5-1 record
The Lady Blues just finished a stretch of six out of seven played away from Lee Arena and they went 5-1 during those six road games.
Washburn out-scored road opponents by 12 points a game and shot 42 percent while opponents shot just 33 percent. The Lady Blues blocked 6.17 shots a game in those seven.
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 wrap up the month of January with a 5 p.m. game Saturday against Pittsburg State. They will then have two more home games next week and are finishing the regular season with seven of 10 at home.
