Complete Game Notes (pdf)
Game 22: Lady Blues at Northwest Missouri
No. 6 Washburn Lady Blues (17-3, 11-1 MIAA)
vs Northwest Missouri Bearcats (11-11, 5-9 MIAA)
Date: Saturday, February 16, 2013
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Maryville, Mo.
Arena: Bearcat Arena (2,500)
Radio: AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 47-10
Last Meeting: WU 64-53 on 02/09/13 (H)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 337-68 (.832) in his 13th year at WU and overall
NWMSU Coach Mark Kellog: 11-11 (.500) in 1st year at NWMSU and 184-57 (.763) in 8th year overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
Washburn jumped up three spots to No. 6 in Tuesday's USA Today Sports national poll.
WU has kept six of its last seven and eight of its last 10 opponents to under 50 points. The Lady Blues are allowing just 46.6 points in their last 10 games & overall, they were 5th in the nation allowing 51.3 a game.
Northwest Missouri is the only opponent in Washburn's last seven games to score more than 48 points. The Bearcats had 53 last Saturday in Topeka.
Washburn ranked fifth in the nation in rebound margin at +11.2 when the week began. Only two teams have out-rebounded Washburn (UWP and FHSU).
The Lady Blues lead the MIAA with a 12-1 record with Central Missouri a game behind them in the loss column. Washburn was the first team to clinch a spot in the MIAA postseason tournament.
Washburn is 47-10 all-time against NWMSU and has won nine of the last 10 in the series.
Laura Kinderknecht is third in career 3-pointers at Washburn, now with 180. Current assistant coach
Stevi Schultz is second with 217.
Kinderknecht was fifth in the MIAA averaging 15.3 points a game when the week started and second with 3.0 3-pointers made per game. Her 3-point total was sixth in the nation.
Tiara George was fourth in the NCAA and first in the MIAA shooting .606 from the field. She has since dropped to .594 shooting.
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 337-68 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.
Second straight familiar opponent up next as Washburn heads to Northwest Missouri
The sixth-ranked Lady Blues will play another opponent for the second time in a week as they travel to Northwest Missouri Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. rematch. Washburn will be looking for its eighth straight win while the Bearcats will look to end a four-game skid.
The game will be carried on AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott calling the action.
Washburn beat Northwest Missouri, 64-53 last Saturday in Topeka. The Lady Blues also have beat Missouri Western twice recently including a 60-45 win Wednesday in St. Joseph to improve them to 18-3 overall and keep them first in the MIAA at 12-1. The Bearcats are 11-11 and 5-9 in the league, sitting in a tie for ninth after falling to Fort Hays State Wednesday, 54-53.
Washburn is 47-10 all-time against Northwest Missouri and has won nine of the last 10.
McHenry just coached 400th career game
Washburn head coach
Ron McHenry coached his 400th career game, all with the Lady Blues, January 24 at Lindenwood.
He's gone 337-68 in his 13 years and with his .832 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 two more wins this year to give him 12 out of 13. His teams have gone to 11 straight NCAA appearances with eight MIAA titles.
Lady Blues jump three spots to No. 6 in national ranking
The Lady Blues tied a season-high with a No. 6 ranking in Tuesday's USA Today Sports national poll, putting them three spots higher than the No. 9 ranking they held the last two weeks. Washburn has now been in the top 10 six times this year and was also as high as No. 6 in the December 18 poll.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 168 of the last 169 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 121st time in the national top 10.
Ashland remained the top team in the country and got all 31 first place votes with a 24-0 record. The Lady Blues remain the top MIAA team in the country with Central Missouri right behind at No. 7. Truman, Pittsburg State, Fort Hays State and Northeastern State are earning votes.
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 top shooters fighting for team and MIAA lead
Tiara George and
Lavonda McCall have battled the last few weeks for the MIAA lead in field goal percentage.
George's .606 field goal percentage led the MIAA at the beginning of the week and was fourth in the nation while McCall has not shot enough to qualify for the NCAA or MIAA national report. She's was shooting .600 to start the week but dropped to .583 after going 3 of 8 against Missouri Western Wednesday.
George only went 1 of 5 against MWSU and dropped her average to .594 on the year. She has shot 50 percent or better in all but four games and better than 70 percent five times. She was second on the team and 24th in the MIAA scoring 10.9 points a game.
Lavonda McCall has shot 50 percent or better in all but six games and over 65 percent 13 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 keeping recent opponents to under 50 points, lead MIAA and are fifth in nation in scoring defense
The Lady Blues had kept their opponents to less than 50 points in six of their last seven and eight of their last 10 games. Northeastern State on January 19 and Northwest Missouri on February 9 are the only opponents to top 50 points since January 12. In the last 10 games, Washburn is allowing just 46.6 points a game and 33 percent shooting from the field.
Overall, the Lady Blues opened the week allowing 51.3 points a game to lead the MIAA. That total was the fifth lowest in the nation and Washburn's field goal percentage defense of .338 was 11th lowest in the nation and first in the MIAA.
Only three of Washburn's opponents have shot better than 40 percent. Northwest Missouri shot 50 percent on February 9, Arkansas Tech shot .439 on November 24 and Northeastern State shot .435 on January 13. Washburn won two of those three games.
Kinderknecht named Capital One Academic All-District
Senior guard
Laura Kinderknecht became Washburn's first academic all-district honoree since 1997-98 as she was named to the District 7 team by Capital One. She will move on to this week's Capital One Academic All-America ballot.
Nikki Olberding was Washburn's last academic all-district selection as she earned Capital One Academic All-America second team status in 1997-98.
Kinderknecht moving up in record books
Laura Kinderknecht moved to third in career 3-pointers earlier this year and currently has 180, 37 away from second at Washburn. She's 12th with 285 assists and needs four to move to 11th. She is also 69 points away from becoming the 22nd Lady Blue to score 1,000 career points.
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.
Lady Blues clinch spot in 12-team MIAA tournament
The Lady Blues clinched their 23rd straight trip to the MIAA tournament with their win February 6 against Missouri Western. They have now qualified for every MIAA tournament since becoming eligible in 1990-91.
With the conference expanding to 15 teams, the tournament is now a 12-team event with the top four teams in the conference earning a bye to the quarterfinal rounds at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., on March 8 with semifinals and the final in the two days following.
The Nos. 5 through 8 teams in the final MIAA standings will host Nos. 9 through 12 in on-campus play-in games on March 5.
Coming Up Next
The Lady Blues will return home next week for two games Saturday Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Nebraska-Kearney. Saturday they'll host Fort Hays State at 5 p.m. Only two games will remain on the regular season schedule after that.
