Game 10: Lady Blues at Central Oklahoma
Complete Game Notes (pdf)
No. 6 Washburn Lady Blues (7-2, 1-0 MIAA)
at University of Central Okla. Bronchos (8-3, 1-2 MIAA)
Date: Saturday, January 5, 2013
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Edmond, Okla.
Arena: Hamilton Field House (3,000)
Radio: 580 WIBW AM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 4-2
Last Meeting: UCO 65-64 on 03/11/11 (N) in NCAA 1st round
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 326-67 (.830) in his 13th year at WU and overall
UCO Coach Guy Hardaker: 134-58 (.700) in 7th year at UCO and overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
Washburn climbed one more spot in the national poll with a No. 6 ranking in the December 18 poll. This is the 162nd time in the last 163 that Washburn has been ranked.
This will be Washburn's first true away game after seven wins at home and a pair of neutral-site losses in Las Vegas. Washburn went 10-2 on the road last year.
This game is the first of three straight on the road and six of the next seven for Washburn.
For being geographical neighbors, this is only WU's 4th game played in Oklahoma. WU went to the NCAA tourney at Northeastern State in 2011 & lost to UCO in the last game played in Oklahoma.
This is UCO's 1st year as an MIAA team. WU's last 3 meetings vs UCO have been in the NCAA tournament and UCO has won two of them. This is the first meeting between the two that isn't at a neutral site.
Laura Kinderknecht had her 2nd 20-point outting in four games with 21 against ESU Wednesday. She was 12 of 14 from the free throw line.
The Lady Blues were picked first in the MIAA coaches and media polls after winning the regular season and conference championships last year.
Kinderknecht has scored in double figures in all but one game this year. She's led the team in scoring in eight of the nine games. She's averaging 15.1 points a game, nearly 10 more than her average last year.
Tiara George is second on the team with 14.6 points a game and she shoots 64 percent from the field. She leads the team with 8.4 rebounds a game.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 326-67 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 head to MIAA newcomer Central Okla. for first true road game
The sixth-ranked Lady Blues will play their first true road game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Central Oklahoma as they return to MIAA play after nearly a month of non-conference games. This will start a stretch of three straight and six of the next seven games played on the road.
The game, played at UCO's Hamilton Field House, will be carried live on 580 WIBW AM and Mark Elliott and Jake Lebahn will call the action. Links to live stats and video are available at wusports.com.
Washburn improved to 7-2 overall with a 78-69 non-conference win over Emporia State Wednesday in Lee Arena. The Lady Blues are 1-0 in the league with the win coming December 6 against Southwest Baptist. Washburn went 7-0 at home to start the year and 0-2 in a pair of neutral-site games in Las Vegas.
Central Oklahoma fell to 8-3 and 1-2 in the MIAA after a 78-76 loss Thursday against Missouri Western. UCO lost earlier in the year to SBU.
The Lady Blues will follow the UCO game with a game Thursday at Fort Hays State at 5:30 p.m.
Climb in national poll continues with No. 6 ranking
The Lady Blues continued their climb up the national poll with a No. 6 ranking in the December 18 USA Today Sports national coaches' poll.
Washburn has since gone 2-1 and a new poll is expected on Tuesday.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 162 of the last 163 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 117th time in the national top 10.
Additional MIAA teams in the week's ranking include No. 10 Fort Hays State and No. 17 Pittsburg State. Central Missouri and Central Oklahoma received votes in this week's 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.
With Central Oklahoma joining MIAA, Lady Blues set to make just fourth appearance in Oklahoma
The Lady Blues are set to make just their fourth trip to Oklahoma as they take on MIAA newcomer Central Oklahoma Saturday. The Bronchos and Lady Blues met in Tahlequah in the NCAA South Central Region first round on March 11, 2011 in a 65-64 UCO win. That was Washburn's last game against UCO and last in the state of Oklahoma.
The Lady Blues also played in their geographical neighbor in 2003-04 in a win at Southeastern Oklahoma and in 1999-00 in a loss at Oral Roberts. Washburn has never played in UCO's Hamilton Field House.
First true road game will start a swing that features six of the next seven on the road.
The Lady Blues will play their first true road game Saturday at Central Oklahoma. The game will be the first of three straight away from home. After returning home for one game, Washburn will then play three straight away, making six of their next seven games on the road.
Washburn started the year with six straight home games and is 7-0 overall in Lee Arena. The Lady Blues went 0-2 in their neutral-site games in Las Vegas.
After returning from this road swing, Washburn will play four straight in Lee Arena.
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
Washburn will head to Fort Hays State next Thursday to start a week of long road trips. Following that trip, the Lady Blues will make their first trip to Nebraska-Kearney since 2001-02 next Saturday.
