Complete Game Notes (pdf)
Game 23: Lady Blues vs Nebraska-Kearney
No. 5 Washburn Lady Blues (19-3, 13-1 MIAA)
vs Nebraska-Kearney Lopers (6-15, 3-11 MIAA)
Date: Thursday, February 21, 2013
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Arena: Schendel Court at Lee Arena (3,904)
Radio: AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott
Series Record: WU leads 19-11
Last Meeting: WU 74-45 on 01/12/13 (A)
Washburn Coach Ron McHenry: 338-68 (.833) in his 13th year at WU and overall
UNK Coach Kevin Chaney: 27-48 (.360) in 3rd year at UNK and overall
Micro-Blogging the Blues
(Around) 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season
Washburn reached a season high with a No. 5 spot in Tuesday's USA Today Sports national poll. Washburn was last that high at No. 4 in week 4 of 2010-11.
The Lady Blues are going for their 12th straight 20 win season. They have 11 straight right now, all under 13-year coach
Ron McHenry.
Washburn is first in the MIAA and fifth in the nation allowing 51.2 points a game. They're 11th in the nation and first in the MIAA allowing opponents to shoot .341 from the field.
Northwest Missouri is the only opponent in Washburn's last eight games to score more than 48 points. The Bearcats had 53 February 9 in Topeka and 54 February 16 in Maryville.
Washburn ranks fifth in the nation in rebound margin at +10.6. Only two three teams have out-rebounded Washburn (UWP, FHSU and NWMSU).
The Lady Blues lead the MIAA with a 13-1 record with Central Missouri a game behind them in the loss column.at 13-2 Washburn was the first team to clinch a spot in the MIAA postseason tournament.
Washburn is 19-11 all-time against Nebraska-Kearney but hasn't hosted the Lopers since the 1998-99 season.
Laura Kinderknecht is third in career 3-pointers at Washburn, now with 184. Current assistant coach
Stevi Schultz is second with 217.
Kinderknecht is fifth in the MIAA averaging 15.3 points a game and third with 3.0 3-pointers made per game. Her 3-point total is eighth in the nation.
Head coach
Ron McHenry earned his 300th win last year and is currently 338-68 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.
Fifth-ranked Lady Blues looking for win number 20 as they host UNK Thursday
The Lady Blues will be looking to uphold their highest national ranking in two years as they host Nebraska-Kearney Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Schendel Court at Lee Arena.
The game will be carried on AM 580 WIBW with Jake Lebahn and Mark Elliott calling the action.
No. 5 Washburn (19-3 overall, 13-1 MIAA) leads the MIAA standings and will be looking for its 12th straight 20-win season. The Lady Blues have won eight straight games after a 61-54 victory last Saturday at Northwest Missouri. Washburn is 12-0 at home this year.
The Lopers are 6-15 overall and 3-11 in the MIAA. They're one game back of 12th-place Lincoln and will need to finish in the top 12 to make the MIAA tournament in their first year in the league. They've lost to Fort Hays State in consecutive games and have lost five of their last six overall.
These two teams played each other on January 12 in Kearney in a 74-45 Washburn win. Washburn leads the all-time series, 19-11 but hasn't hosted the Lopers since 1998-99.
Lady Blues going for 12th straight 20-win season
The Lady Blues are one win away from clinching their 12th straight 20-win season. The last 11 20-win seasons have come under 13-year head coach
Ron McHenry.
Overall, Washburn has 22 20-win seasons with Patty Dick presiding over the first 11 from 1982-83 through 1994-95.
Washburn is averaging 27 wins a season in the last 11 years and has five 30-win seasons.
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 338-68 in his 13 years and with his .833 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 one more win this year to give him 12 out of 13. His teams have gone to 11 straight NCAA tournaments with eight MIAA titles.
Lady Blues continue climb with No. 5 national ranking
The Lady Blues climbed one more spot in the ranking to No. 5 in Tuesday's USA Today Sports national poll. The ranking marks a season high for Washburn and the highest ranking since being No. 4 in the third week of the 2010-11 season.
Washburn had been ranked sixth last week and was ninth the previous two weeks. Washburn has now been in the top 10 seven times this year.
The Lady Blues have been ranked in 169 of the last 170 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 122nd time in the national top 10.
Ashland lost for the first time this year and dropped to third. Bentley took over the top spot with Clayton State at No. 3. Colorado Mesa is No. 4 and Holy Family fell from fifth to sixth. Central Missouri is seventh and is the only other MIAA team in the ranking. Truman, Pittsburg State, Fort Hays State and Emporia State are all earning votes.
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 eight and eight of their last 11 games. Northwest Missouri twice and Northeastern State on January 19 are the only opponents to top 50 points since January 12. In the last 11 games, Washburn is allowing just 47.3 points a game and 34 percent shooting from the field.
Northwest Missouri and Northeastern State have been the only exceptions to Washburn's strong defense lately. In the three games against the RiverHawks and Bearcats, Washburn is allowing 53.0 points a game but is getting outshot, 45 percent to 39 percent from the field. Despite those numbers, just a nine-point loss at NSU has kept Washburn from winning 14 straight games.
Overall, the Lady Blues lead the MIAA allowing 51.2 points a game. That total is the fifth lowest in the nation and Washburn's field goal percentage defense of .341 was 11th lowest in the nation and first in the MIAA.
Only four of Washburn's opponents have shot better than 40 percent. Northwest Missouri shot 50 percent on February 9 and 43 percent on February 16, 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 the Capital One Academic All-America ballot and the team will be announced this week.
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 184, 33 away from second at Washburn. She's 12th with 286 assists and needs three to move to 11th. She is also 55 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 stay home and host Fort Hays State Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in Lee Arena. Just two more games will remain on the schedule after that as Washburn travels to Emporia State on February 27 and then hosts Central Missouri on March 2 on Senior Day.
