Complete Game Notes (pdf)
Game 18: Lady Blues vs Pittsburg State
No. 9 Washburn Lady Blues (14-3, 8-1 MIAA)
vs Pittsburg State Gorillas (12-6, 6-4 MIAA)
Date: Saturday, February 2, 2013
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Arena: Schendel Court at Lee Arena (3,904)
Radio: 106.9 FM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 50-26
Last Meeting: WU 59-45 on 02/18/12 (H)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 333-68 (.830) in his 13th year at WU and overall
PSU Coach Lane Lord: 99-64 (.607) in 7th year at PSU and 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 has kept 3 straight opponents and five of the last 6 to under 50 points. The Lady Blues are allowing just 46.0 points in their last 6 games and overall, they're 9th in the nation allowing 51.9 a game.
The Lady Blues lead the MIAA with an 8-1 record with two two-loss teams, Central Missouri and Truman, right behind them. The game Thursday marked the halfway point of the MIAA season.
Washburn is 50-26 all-time against PSU and has won 11 straight at home against the Gorillas.
Laura Kinderknecht moved to third in career 3-pointers at Washburn, now with 166. She had a career-high six 3-pointers last Thursday at Lincoln.
Kinderknecht is fifth in the MIAA averaging 15.3 points a game and second with 2.9 3-pointers made per game.
She's scoring 16.8 points a game during MIAA contests and shooting 44 percent.
Tiara George is fourth in the NCAA and first in the MIAA shooting .628 from the field.
Lavonda McCall is shooting .612 from the field, second best in 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 last 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 333-68 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.
Ninth-ranked Lady Blues host Pittsburg State Saturday to continue home stand
The ninth-ranked Lady Blues will put their conference-leading scoring defense up against the MIAA's top scorer as they host Pittsburg State at Schendel Court at Lee Arena Saturday at 5 p.m. Washburn will be looking for its fifth straight win while the Gorillas will be looking to end a two-game losing streak.
The game will be carried on Country Legends 106.9 FM with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott calling the action.
Washburn defeated Missouri Southern Thursday, 53-42 to improve to 14-3 overall and 8-1 in the MIAA. It was their third straight game keeping opponents to under 50 points.
The Gorillas lost Wednesday at Missouri Western, 70-65 and Saturday's game will end a streak of six out of seven games played on the road, a steak Washburn recently endured with a 6-1 record. Lizzy Jeronimus leads PSU and the MIAA with 19.1 points a game while Washburn allows just 51.9 a game.
Washburn leads the all-time series with Pittsburg State, 50-26 and has won five straight in the series. Washburn has won 11 straight at home against PSU with the last loss coming in 2000-01.
McHenry just coached 400th career game
Washburn head coach
Ron McHenry coached his 400th career game, all with the Lady Blues, last Saturday at Lindenwood.
He's gone 333-68 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 six 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 went 7 for 7 from the field Thursday against Missouri Southern to reclaim the MIAA lead in field goal percentage from teammate
Lavonda McCall. George is now shooting .628 from the field and McCall, a junior guard, is shooting .612 from the field. George started the week fourth in the nation in shooting and McCall does not have enough makes to qualify for the NCAA report.
George has shot 50 percent or better in all but two games and better than 70 percent five times. She's is second on the team and 18th in the MIAA scoring 11.6 points a game.
Lavonda McCall has shot 50 percent or better in all but four games and over 65 percent 11 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 hold third straight opponent to under 50 points, lead MIAA and ninth in nation in scoring defense
The Lady Blues have kept their opponents to less than 50 points seven times this year and are undefeated when doing so. They've done so three straight times and in five of the last six games. In the last six games, Washburn is allowing just 46.0 points a game and 32 percent shooting from the field.
Overall, the Lady Blues allow 51.9 points a game to lead the MIAA. Washburn's total was ninth best in the nation to start the week and the field goal percentage defense of .335 was 13th lowest in the nation.
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.
Washburn is now finishing the season with seven of 10 at home.
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 wrap up a four-game home stand with a game Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against Missouri Western and then another Saturday at 5 p.m. against Northwest Missouri.
