Game 11: Lady Blues at Fort Hays State
Complete Game Notes (pdf)
No. 12 Washburn Lady Blues (8-2, 2-0 MIAA)
at No. 18 Fort Hays State University Tigers (10-2, 2-2 MIAA)
Date: Thursday, January 10, 2013
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Hays, Kan.
Arena: Gross Memorial Coliseum (6,814)
Radio: 580 WIBW AM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 43-26
Last Meeting: WU 75-55 on 02/04/12 (H)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 327-67 (.830) in his 13th year at WU and overall
FHSU Coach Tony Hobson: 69-54 (.561) in 5th year at FHSU and 280-94 (.749) in 12th year overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
Washburn suffered its first drop in the national rankings falling from 6th to 12th after going 2-2 since the last poll. The Lady Blues had climbed in each of the first five polls.
This is Washburn's second of three straight road games and six of the next seven are played away from Lee Arena.
Washburn has won 12 of the last 13 meetings in Hays going back to 1991-92. The loss came in 2010-11.
The Lady Blues were picked first in the MIAA coaches and media polls after winning the regular season and conference championships last year.
Laura Kinderknecht scored 21 points in each game last week and she's averaging 17.6 points a game in the last five. She's topped 20 in three of those five games.
Tiara George is second in the NCAA and first in the MIAA shooting .646 from the field. She reached double figures in scoring in the first seven games.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 327-67 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.
No. 12 Lady Blues head west to Fort Hays State for top-20 MIAA battle
The Lady Blues will look to remain the only undefeated team in the MIAA when they head to No. 10 Fort Hays State Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. game in Gross Memorial Coliseum. This will be Washburn's second of three straight games on the road.
The game 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.
The Lady Blues improved to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the MIAA with a 62-58 win Saturday at Central Oklahoma in their first true road game. While three MIAA teams have three conference wins and six others have two, Washburn is the only school without a loss.
Fort Hays State (10-2, 2-2 MIAA) was undefeated and ranked 10th in the nation before losing its last two games, on the road at Northeastern State and Emporia State. The Lady Hornets beat FHSU 69-54 in the Tigers' last time out.
Following the FHSU game, Washburn will head to Nebraska-Kearney for a 2 p.m. game Saturday. It will be Washburn's first time facing the Lopers since 2001. The game will end a three-game road trip for Washburn then after one game in Lee Arena, Washburn will play three more on the road.
Lady Blues drop six spots to 12th in latest national poll
The Lady Blues' first losses of the year caused them to have their first drop in the national poll as they fell from sixth to 12th in this week's USA Today Sports national poll.
Washburn was 6-0 before the previous poll and went 2-2 since then with a pair of defeats in Las Vegas.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 163 of the last 164 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 118th time in the national top 10.
Additional MIAA teams in the week's ranking include No. 15 Central Missouri, No. 18 Fort Hays State and No. 20 Pittsburg State. Central Oklahoma and Truman 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.
George second in the nation and first in the MIAA shooting 65% from the field
Senior forward
Tiara George is shooting .646 from the field, second best in NCAA II and first in the MIAA. She's shot 50 percent or better in all but one game and better than 70 percent four times. George is second on the team and 12th in the MIAA scoring 13.3 points a game. She scored in double figures in the first seven games and was averaging 16.9 a game but has since been held to 5.0 points a game.
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.
First true road game Saturday at UCO started a string of six of seven on the road.
The Lady Blues played their first true road game Saturday at Central Oklahoma and won a four-point decision, 62-58 over the Bronchos. The game was the first of three straight and six of seven 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
The Lady Blues will play their first game in Kearney, Neb. since the 2008 NCAA Elite 8 when the Lopers host Washburn Saturday at 2 p.m. UNK is one of four teams in their first year in the MIAA and is 4-7 and 1-3 in the MIAA. The Lopers will host Missouri Western Wednesday before hosting Washburn.
The Lady Blues fell in double overtime on March 26, 2008, to South Dakota in the NCAA national quarterfinal in their last game in Kearney. Washburn last played UNK in Kearney on November 24, 2001, in a 46-45 win over the 17th-ranked Lopers.
